A Man and His Job
by humble.fanfic.author
Summary: Kidd and Killer are living a life full of gore in the 'jungle' when suddenly their pasts catch up to them. The good and bad flood their minds and make them wonder just what exactly will happen to them and the people they now know they love- decisions and changes must be made. (90-ish, Harlem-type area. T for violence and language)
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning

**A Man and His Job**

In a dimly lit room a man sat back in a precarious chair, with his arm over the back, and looked down at the table in front of him. He ran a hand through his hair, sighed, and tapped his foot as he considered his options. Both options weren't the greatest, but he wasn't in the position to not choose either. He could only hope for the best and choose one, forgetting what would happen to him afterwards. It was, how you say, an _interesting _world Eustass Kidd lived in.

**Two Years Earlier**; an alley behind a run-down apartment complex - a medium-sized town.

Sitting on top of a dumpster with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, a long-haired blonde tapped his fingers on his lanky long leg as he waited patiently for his 'captain'. That captain was the one who ran things around there. Everyone who was anyone had heard of him- the bastard who was ruthless and would do anything simply because he felt like it. There were only a few maybe insane and/or cocky people that would go up against him and come out with only minor injuries; maybe it was better that way, since the hospital staff all knew the captain's face all too well.

A bruised up, punkish guy came wandering into the entrance of the alleyway, casting his tall shadow down it and onto the blonde's feet at the end of the alley. The punk grinned. The blonde took a drag from his cigarette and smirked. With a gentle hop from the dumpster, the blonde sauntered down the alley with hands in his pockets, smirking all the way till he bumped chests with the other punk. The punk merely gave the blonde a punch to the chest. The blonde took a scabbard from off his beltloop and jabbed the other in the gut with it, and then returned the sheath to its holster. The blonde pulled a pocketful of money out from his boot and pushed it into the other's chest while pushing past. The blonde walked into the full daylight of the street with no worries; after all, he had met his quota for the day and given the captain, the punk, his 'payment'.

"I swear, you get more and more each day," the taller punk whispered with a spin on his heel, following after the long golden locks that he was used to seeing each day while ungainfully stuffing the cash into his pocket.

"Isn't that my job?" the blonde replied with a swish of his hand, plucking the cigarette from his lips and tossing it to the ground. He stamped it out on the pavement with his high-heeled, steel-toed boots.

"Yeah... I guess it is," the other responded with a smirk, putting his hand out to grab the blonde's shoulder. He halted the blonde from walking further into the street; they were already in the dead-center of it with no fear of anything, for they were the only people that could possibly hurt each other then. They looked around the empty street and grinned.

The two strange-haired thugs, roaming 'their' streets with no worries..

No apparent worries, at least.

* * *

The same blonde and punk sat in a sliced-up, blood-red booth at the back of their favorite pub. They puffed away while beggars and kids strolled through like they owned the place. However, these people did not know that the real 'owners' were nearby and ready for their next source of income.

The punk leaned into the blonde's shoulder next to him and pointed past him at a lanky dark-haired guy who looked like he hadn't slept in days. The blonde followed the pointing finger and observed the lanky man carefully... no apparent weapons, no muscle; easy as pie.

"See that guy?"

"Yeah, I'm not blind.. as far as I know."

"Really? Can't tell 'cause of your fuckin' hair the way it is."

"It's my hair. I can let it cover what I want to cover."

"Even the things you see with... _Killer_?"

"Yes, even 'the things I see with', _Kidd... _Anyway, continue."

"Alright, alright. So I got a call from this real uppity guy, real calm-sounding ya know, but in the way you can tell he's not normally like that- suspicious- and he tells me this, 'Kidd, I have a guy for you.' And I says back , 'Oh really? Tell me 'bout 'im.' So he does ya see, and that's that guy there. Apparently he's got something goin' on with his 'princess of a daughter, and he wouldn't ever accept a thug like him'. So, there he is, and here we are."

The blonde, Killer, nodded slowly and tilted his head back toward the punk, Kidd. Killer tapped a long-nailed finger on the jagged booth-table and his face hidden under his golden bangs, concocting a simple plan of murderous action in his mind. _Walk up to the bar, order a drink, slide up next to the guy while blowin' out some smoke and drag him out the back door the right and into the alleyway. No one here is in there right mind to know what's going on, or have the guts to tell anyone_. Kidd would probably follow afterward to make sure the deed is done, but Killer probably wouldn't have a problem by himself with a dead-lookin' guy.

"Ya better go, kid," Kidd urged with a jab to Killer's lower back. Killer clicked his tongue at the word 'kid', and afterwards no more words were needed. The blonde seemed to glide up over to the bar through the smoky air and puffed on his cig, tapping a nail on the bar- he immediately got a drink, (free o' charge). He took a swig and noticed not even a glance from the dead-lookin' guy. It was perfect. Killer set down the drink, swiftly headlocked the dead-guy next to him, and ushered a wave back at Kidd before disappearing into the alley beyond. Kidd chuckled to himself and brought the tabacco-stick to his lips and took a deep drag, slowly blowing out as he faintly heard a piercing scream and a _shink _of metal on brick. Kidd then opened his eyes and took a drink from his glass, putting his cigarette down on the wooden table. His smirk dissapeared as he strode out the back down of the bar before the table was engulfed in flames.

"Good job. Bring him with us.. Oh, and we better hurry. The place'll go before long," Kidd explained calmly while Killer hauled the bloody corpse on his shoulder. The body was cooling down and clamming up, and the lukewarm blood oozed almost peacefully onto Killer's shirt that _used _to be black and white. Killer always carried bodies in this way- face-down and over the shoulder.

It was easier that way.

Eustass Kidd put an arm around Killer's waist and pulled him to his side, laughing as dollar signs were in their near future.

"Why do you always insist on holding me this way when you blow up a place?" Killer asked monotonously as they walked across the street from the flaming bar, where 'something' in the back room that may or may not have been there the day before caught the flames in its hands and with a deafening sound cracked like a bomb. Black smoke billowed up into the sky with the flames in a deathly manner. This created a simply marvelous backdrop for the two thugs that made their way across town through the main streets- blood dripped the entire way to the 'client's' front door. While they approached the house, Killer noted to Kidd that both the day's money and liquors had still been inside the then-obliterated bar. Kidd's eye twitched for a second but soon shrugged it off as they walked up the steps to the house.

Kidd knocked four times, as was instructed, but on the front door of the house, as was _not_ instructed. A plain looking young girl unknowingly answered the door with a sheepish smile. Her smile was erased as her body froze in pure horror at the sight of Eustass Kidd, and his wicked grin, his outstretched hand, and _her_ boyfriend draped over _his _'boyfriend's' shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

The whole world stopped and she screamed a piercing scream that was heard throughout the town, and everyone knew what had happened for the 2nd time that week..

Killer let down the corpse on the front step like a ragdoll and saluted the lady, silently slinking back into the shadows as her father, the client, rushed to the door with a look of pure dread and caught his fainted daughter in his arms. Kidd didn't let his grin slack, waving his open palm. When there was no other movement, Kidd pulled the man by his collar up to him.

"Here, pops, it's done. Now gimme what I asked for."

The man's eyes were unseeing and he only half-consciously pulled a few stacks of cash from his back pocket and shakily pushed it into Kidd's other open hand. Kidd let go of him, gave the girl a wink and shoved his hands, and money, into his pockets. As he walked away, Kidd whistled an eerily peaceful tune. The man, the girl and the body were all frozen motionless at the end of the street, in a trance.

Eustass Kidd disappeared from view into the shadows once more with the echo of his whistling floating on the wind.

* * *

~ + well hello and welcome to a request story about Kidd, and I got this story idea from one sentence about a man sitting at a table looking down at something. that was all it took to get this going, and im really excited to finish this! XD stay tuned for more in the next few days. + ~


	2. Chapter 2 - The Quack Doctor

**Chapter 2: The Quack Doctor**

If you couldn't already tell, Eustass Kidd was no ordinary man. He didn't really look like one either, with his flaming red hair and 7 ft stature. He was proud of his unique clothing choices and his 'unprecedented courage and strength'. (Kidd likes to think highly of himself, too.)

Killer was pretty unordinary, too; long golden hair poured over his shoulders and down his back, and his bangs hid his face from the rest of the world. Few knew what he looked like under those bangs, and he hoped that no one ever would, except for Kidd. Kidd was one of the only ones he didn't hate for seeing his face.

If you ever found the two walking down the street, maybe you would simply just think that they were two odd punks who had terrible sense of fashion, but they preferred it that way. Kidd always went bare-chested with a striking pair of black and neon lizard-print pants with high black boots and a maroon coat draped over his shoulders to match his lipstick and sharp fingernails. Killer wore a collared, long-sleeved black shirt with white polka-dots, and he wore a pair of tight fitting blue jeans with light fringe from the calf down with tan high-heeled boots underneath the flared ankles of his pants. Both wore a pair of black goggles around their necks for show and were proud of it; that's how you knew Kidd and Killer from the rest of the low-life that wandered 'their' town.

Walking calmly down the middle of the street, puffing on cigarettes as usual, Kidd and Killer chatted like they didn't have red blood splattered across their chests from the latest victims. They were splitting the payment in two, with a few extra dollars for Kidd that they had picked off a pedestrian. Really, they didn't have to so much as say a word if they wanted money, though, because the 'citizens' of their town would pull the money from their pockets before the punks could even say a word or make a move.

"I'm kinda surprised he stepped up on his own," Kidd commented, talking of an unrelated subject. He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth for the moment while he looked down the narrow street. Killer nodded, smirking, and kept his eyes sharp for the man they were talking about. They were on their way to meet this man, but who knew exactly where they'd end up finding him..

Right as Kidd grinned and put his cig back up to his maroon lips, a man stepped out of a narrow alleyway with his hands in his pockets- a suspicious look masked his face.

"So I finally get to see 'The Kid' in person, eh?"

Kidd narrowed his dark eyes at hearing the man's deep, somewhat raspy voice and grunted in response. Killer stopped and pulled his hand-scythe half-way out of its sheath, glinting it dangerously in the light. The man laughed lightly and held up his arms in surrender.

"Now, now.. no need to slice me up before we even talk, Mr. Killer," the man said with a hint of playfulness in his tone. The 'man' was tall and slim with short, navy blue hair. A tight, black, high-collared sweater clothed his chest and arms and dark jeans similar to Killer's pants covered his long legs. Underneath his pant legs he wore black high-heeled boots that raised him up an unnecessary 2 inches and moved like the wind, gracefully and gently; calmly. His eyes were bright like the sun but strikingly calm, and his pairs of earrings shone in the same way. The man's tan hands were tattooed, and who knew what else.. Altogether, he was just interesting, but not really _scary _or _threatening. _

"I'm guessin' you're... Law, then?" Kidd mumbled uncertainly, slowly holding out his cigarette, offering it to Law. Law stepped out of the shadows and took it, placing up in between his lips.

"Yeah," 'Law' replied simply with his crazed look ever about him. Kidd stepped back, not liking the close proximity for an odd reason. Law took no notice and looked off to the side, tapping his toe gently to some beat inside his head. Kidd's eye twitched; he didn't like this.. this 'Law' guy. He was.. he was just strange. Something about him was off.

"You got something to say to me?" Kidd spat out in an abrupt flash of anxiety that exploded into thin air. He swiped the cigarette out of the man's mouth and dropped it on the ground, crushing it with his black boot. Killer let go of his sheath and smiled to himself, stepping back a bit with his arms crossed. Law merely closed his eyes with the same unchanging smile.

"I'm only here to talk about me and what I do; this's got nothin' to do with you _yet,_" Law stated, pointing a carefree tattooed hand at Kidd, shifting his weight back on his right foot. He was so confident in himself!

Right when Kidd thought he couldn't squint anymore, he found a new notch for his eyebrows to go to, courtesy of his rising hatred for this alleged 'quack doctor'.

"Fine, then _you _talk about _you_."

Killer relaxed and prepared to listen to Law's story extra-well. That's because he knew Kidd wouldn't want to listen in the first place and probably wouldn't end up remembering much.

Law tilted back his head a bit and licked his lips while staring off into space somewhere, up and diagonal, as if weighing his options before speaking; then he did.

"Alright. I'll talk about me. But first, we have to go on a little stroll.."

Kidd scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets angrily. He grudgingly followed Law down the same alley he had appeared from, with Killer close on his heels. Law smirked.

Winding up and down streets and alleys, the three came to one of the many run-down apartment buildings, and Law led them up the ladders and metal stairwells outside. With clanks and bangs of their boots they came to the last apartment on that floor. Law pushed the door open by the one hinge it still had and entered whilst whistling jauntily.

Kidd took one step inside and the smell of drugs, or somethin', hit him hard upside the head, and he wondered just what Law was trying to do. He wasn't there to buy some Joe-shmoe's drugs. And Law didn't mention that he kept dead animal guts for a hobby either..

Enclosed jars and tanks littered the room, cast off in random places, and the organs of different mammals were placed inside these jars filled with formaldehyde. The two punks had seen some weird shit, with their job and everything, but.. this was a first.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Kidd mumbled, sitting himself down in the first of two chairs in the room. Meanwhile, Killer bent over to inspect a small jar with a bright green eye floating in it. Law gave them both an amused glance and sat across from Kidd in the dimly-lit, almost empty room (other than the chairs and jars..). Kidd put his arms up behind his head and crossed his legs, waiting.. waiting.

"Here we are. This... this is _my _place of employment," Law explained with a gesture to the room around them. Kidd snorted.

"Well.. I should say this is my storage area. The back room is where all the nitty-gritty stuff goes on after I drug 'em up nice and good.."

Kidd raised an eyebrow in question. Law grinned like a maniac. Killer wandered around, not _that _amused.

"It's really nice, my job.. all I have to do is lure some retard in with the promise of some cheap drugs of sorts, whatever they want, and then I give it to them... and once they're down and out, I make them think that some animal guts, in with their guts, would cure 'their terrible, incurable disease'. So they shove the money my way, whatever they have, and I lay 'em down, cut 'em open, and do just what I said I would."

Law finished by picking up a jar from next to his chair and tried to show it off to Kidd. Kidd did not look and had his eyes closed tightly, not wanting believe that anyone could be stupid enough to fall for that.

Killer looked up from his place on the floor that he had chosen as a seat with interest and smiled. He poked the small jar with the eye in it that he had claimed as his own, admiring Law's work.

"And so.. where do you.."

"Ah, that's easy. Stray cats, dogs, occasionally some humans wander my way when I'm running low.." Law said offhandedly, pointing to 'Killer's eye', for example purposes. Killer held it protectively close to him... Law sent him a wink.

"You're one fucked up guy, Law.." Eustass said under his breath, and then he flicked his eyes open and up, locking glances with Law's golden eyes, "but I kinda like it, the more I think about it. You're in till you screw somethin' up."

Law closed his eyes and rolled his head back, cracking it in the process, "Ah, I'm honored to do it.. Eustass Kidd."

"..Just call him Kidd," Killer told him, standing up. Kidd muttered a short strand of curses dramatically, hating his mother for giving him the dreaded name of 'Eustass'.. like an old man.. Law raised his hands in surrender again with a little more laughter as he stood from his seat, observing the blood all the two punks had accumulated as if it had just magically appeared there. Law pointed to Killer's shirt, making Kidd turn back to look at his accomplice.

"Want me to wash that for ya?" Law asked, as if they weren't in the middle of an organ-filled run-down apartment. Killer let his mouth go slack a little in shock while Kidd slapped an angry hand to his forehead.

"Stop acting like a creep one minute and then a mom the next!"

"Heh.. it was just a polite question~"

Meanwhile, Killer blinked and took off his shirt, tossing it to Law and in turn smearing some blood on Law's black sweater. The three didn't move.. Kidd looked back at Killer..

"What? You really think I enjoy inhaling the smell of iron and copper all day?" Killer retorted, crossing his arms over his bare chest defiantly while Kidd shook his head and sighed.

"Why the fuck am I always surrounded by retards?" Kidd sighed out. Killer and Law found great humor in this rhetorical question...

Killer picked 'his' jar back up off the ground while Law slung the shirt over his arm. The blonde pointed to the eyeball..

"Can I keep it?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Cool."

"What's wrong with you?!"

~ + thanks for reading.. and yayyy.. Law~ XD+ ~


	3. Chapter 3 - Ongoing Problems

**Chapter 3: Ongoing Problems**

"You had one fucking job!"

Killer sat back in his chair, smiling as he watched his captain get flustered over Law's mistake.

"Yeah. Never said I had to do it right."

"Do you know... what this could do to me?!"

"Nah, and I don't believe would care even if I did."

Kidd ran a hand through his hair in anger and lit up a cigarette, popping it between his lips to take a deep drag, exhaling as if his worries would float away with the smoke, "'Course... you're just a quack doctor.. why would you care? You only let some bum steal half my fortune.."

"Hey, he didn't steal it and he's not just a bum!" Law fumed, suddenly becoming defensive of his new accomplice he had picked up several days earlier who just happened to need a few thousand to pay off some debt..

"Okay fine, then _you _stole it to give to _the _bum."

"There's no helping it now... well, actuall-"

"What now? What 'bright idea' have you got?"

"..you could let him join you," Law continued, leaning his elbows on the table in Kidd's 'house', or, the apartment that he had stolen first (a.k.a he killed the owners, his first major crime, and then after he cleaned off the blood he moved in. Soon, the entire apartment building was evacuated and Kidd took over it all.). The three were in a small room in the basement with one dangling lightbulb above the table, with four mix-matched chairs around the table. An ash tray sat in the middle of the table.

Kidd looked up at Law with an incredulous look of fury.

"_Him_, join _me_?! Just who do you think _I am_, Law?! A patient, excepting, _forgiving _murderer?"

"Well, I had hoped you would understand.. apparently you're skull is a bit thicker than I had bargained for."

Killer chuckled and took his eyeball-jar out of his pocket, looking back into the green eye while he was overjoyed for Kidd. Kidd never had this much fun fighting with someone other than Killer- well, rarely... Kidd's look of heated anger settled a little into his brain and he snapped his eyes shut, tapping his finger quickly on the table to try and keep calm. Killer caught sight of his emotions.

Killer smirked and leaned way back in his chair.

Lifting a long leg up he overturned the table, driving the other two out and away from it before it toppled over onto the floor with a heavenly thunder-clap. The ash tray was launched across the floor and up against the opposite door. The small remains of a cigarette caught the dry wooden door frame, igniting the only exit. Kidd stood and fumed ironically while taking a step toward Killer as the flame grew. Kidd kicked the supporting legs of Killer's chair, sending the blonde into the wall behind him calmly. Law looked around frantically, not knowing what to do while Kidd sat back down in his chair and put his hands over his face in inner desperation. The flames raged, threatening to engulf the ceiling in orange. The smoke clouded the air and they coughed and choked. The two upright ones dropped to the ground and pulled their clothes over their noses.

Killer smirked and punched in the section of wall he lay next to on the floor, and pulled out convenient fire extinguisher that he concealed there for that very reason and pulled the tab. He sprayed the flames out as he inched his way up and back to a casual standing position. Law coughed and coughed, managing to stand up and break into the hallway. Kidd grabbed Killer by his collar and dragged him out of the room whilst almost choking on smoke. After hacking and regaining breath he held up Killer against the hallway wall outside.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"Just showing you what you're rage might've led you to cause," Killer replied calmly, crossing his arms while Kidd held him up still. Kidd blinked and stared through Killer's bangs at his eyes and narrowed his own. He dropped the blonde back to the ground with a 'tch'. Killer raised an eyebrow and followed him back to Law. Kidd didn't like to discuss things like that with Killer.. since the blonde knew everything about him from careful observations, including the fact that Kidd did _not _like trying to work with other people and had a tendency to flip tables when he got mad.

"So.. like you were saying before blondie over here nearly baked us alive...?" Kidd started again, jabbing a thumb towards Killer who only grinned away. Law shook his head and put a hand to his head.

"I was saying.. that _the _bum could work for you and repay you that way," Law offered. Then again.. the guy paid off a debt to earn another one... but too late, Kidd was on it.

"Fuck that.. I should really just... Law, I'm a genius. I'll go slit the other guy's throat and just steal back my money. I forgot I was a thug for a second."

"An idiot indeed."

"Yeah, an id- okay... you know what..."

Kidd approached suddenly and turned on Law, landing a kick on the thin man's side that sent him back into the fire-room. Law, unfortunately, landed on the edge of the overturned table. Killer put a hand over his mouth as Kidd grinned and turned to him, signaling him to follow him back upstairs with Law crawling out of the room just as they got to the top.

"Eustass Kidd!"

"Go fix yourself up with a dog spleen or something, 'Dr. Trafalgar Law'," Kidd replied, shutting and bolting the door to the basement. He took two steps and then stopped, realizing something he had forgotten to ask. Law recovered quickly and scrambled up the steps. Kidd unlocked the door and opened it a crack, pushing his weight against the door as the doctor was attempting escape.

"Hey, what's the debt-collector look like?" Kidd asked calmly, continuing to just lean against the door, not bothering to really push. Law took his chance and pulled his weight off the door and let Kidd lose his balance. Law attempted to squeeze through the door and run when Kidd's weight came back on the door and crushed his hand in the doorframe. Law fell and writhed down on his knees with a deep groan. His broken hand fell from the doorframe as Kidd crossed his arms and waited patiently for his response...

"Ha. Look what you did to yourself, you motherfucker, now tell me who he is," Kidd said again with a smile. Law sucked in one breath at a time and barely noticed when Kidd pushed past him into the first floor hallway. Killer kept his tongue between his teeth, not feeling good about the answer to come.

"Joker.." Law groaned from his kneeling position on the floor trying to hold his hand delicately. Kidd's eyes went wide.

".._The _Joker?" Kidd responded, taking a step back further into the hallway where Killer was watching. Law nodded and hissed in pain momentarily, standing up and leaning against the wall just away from the door like nothing had happened. Killer glanced at Kidd with a blank expression while Kidd shook his head and thought about it for a moment.

There was only one guy higher than Kidd and that was 'Joker'.. the guy who controlled everyone that got too close- the puppet-master- the King of the Underground. Suddenly, Kidd looked up at Law with an even more pale face.

"You're connected to Joker then.." Kidd hissed, stalking up to tower over Law again, who looked down at his boots with a far-off look in his usually gleaming eyes.

"Actually, I have been now for a few years.." Law whispered, looking regretful for admitting such a thing, and Kidd felt bad for him for a quick second before Law flashed his eyes up to Kidd with a grin on his face. Kidd stepped back and realized what he had gotten himself into.. so he grit his teeth, pulled back a leg and kicked Law square in the ribcage, sending him sprawling on the floor. Killer leaned back with his arms crossed with a somewhat disgruntled expression, observing the 'trap' they had 'walked' into..

"You fuckin' bastard!" Kidd roared, kicking Law a few times in the side before picking him up by his collar like a doll and held him against the wall, clenching the other's tan neck between his maroon-nailed fingers. "You motherfucker.." Kidd continued, pulling a shining pistol from his pocket.

The close proximity let Kidd tell that Law had dyed his hair- roots don't lie. Not that Kidd hadn't already known that navy blue hair wasn't natural..*cough*.

Killer took a step towards Kidd with a look of exasperation while Law gasped for breath. He tried fruitlessly to yank Kidd's fingers off his windpipe, and stared in mortification as Kidd held up a pistol in front of his body. The metal close to his chest felt like a searing brand despite wearing a shirt.

"You wouldn't.." Law whispered softly, staring back at Kidd with wide, glossy eyes. Kidd grinned.

"I would."

Killer opened his mouth, but was too late.

And with a laugh, Kidd pulled the trigger twice and blood splattered back against the cream-colored hallway wall and partially onto himself. Killer put his head down and closed his eyes.

Kidd pulled Law's face up close to his and clicked his tongue. He dropped the blood-covered, navy-haired body onto the floor with a horrid _thud _and turned to the blonde. Killer only briefly glanced at the body and questioned what Kidd planned on doing with it.

"You think I fuckin' want to even look at that cunt's body? Fuck no! Gonna get Zoro to drag his ass to his coffin from here." A moment of silence ensued before Killer took a breath and responded.

"Interesting choice.. but now Joker's going to hunt us down," Killer commented softly, and rather shakily, leading Kidd out the front door and down the middle of the street again. Kidd made no comment as they walked to their own personal coffin-maker, a.k.a. a weird kid that had nothing better to do and didn't mind the smell of blood. Even Kidd and Killer were.. killers, they tried (somewhat) to give their victims a somewhat proper funeral which consisted of dropping their body in the right coffin, nailing it shut, and then parading the coffin down to a mysterious pit, unceremoniously drop the coffin in, and with a bit of gasoline for fun, ignited the pit into a cremation chamber.

Killer unamusedly walked down the sidewalk to a wooden door on a building and kicked it open, throwing a wave to the bare-chested coffin-maker with a point back to Kidd. The green-haired coffin-maker only shook his head with a slight smirk.

"No body,? What are you trying to pull here?" the coffin-maker joked with a look at Kidd as he walked closer with a look of disgust on his face. Killer nodded slightly and looked around the building whilst unconsciously playing with the small formaldehyde filled jar in his pocket

"So..uh.. what's up?" the coffin-maker by the name of Zoro asked a little awkwardly. He was obviously unaware of anything that was going on. Kidd and Killer looked at each other and didn't say anything, looking anywhere but back at Zoro when he looked for an answer. After a moment, Kidd opened his mouth.

"A dog of Joker's fucked with the wrong guy, and let's just say he's so ugly I couldn't even bear to touch him again."

Zoro made an expression of mild and unknowing agreement and raised his eyebrows for more info. Kidd _tch_ed in annoyance.

"Are you retarded? You're gonna be the one to bring his ass here!" Kidd fumed, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. Zoro blinked- that was a first.

Zoro reached up and scratched his head, "So, where's the body then?"

"My place..? Where else?!"

Both Killer and Zoro made note that it literally could've been anywhere in town because usually killers don't murder in their own houses- usually. Zoro sighed and rubbed his hands over his face then.

"And what do I do if I'm caught dragging a dead guy of Joker's through the streets, huh?" Zoro retorted softly, getting rather annoyed by Kidd's unusual request.

"The fuck do I care?! All you need to worry about is getting _him _to _here_ and not stealing anything from my building, alright?!"

Killer stepped up behind Kidd and flicked his neck for being overly-douche-y and dodged a backhanded smack that he had seen coming ages ago.

Kidd turned from growling at Killer to watching Zoro curiously as he went and pulled out an abnormally nice-looking coffin from the back of the warehouse. Zoro looked up to see him watching in amusement.

"Every time a high-up puppet of Joker's gets killed, they deserve a special coffin," Zoro explained casually like he were talking about the weather, which somewhat frightened Kidd.. him knowing Joker's men and all.. then suddenly Zoro had an idea.

"Hey, it wouldn't happen to be that guy Law, would it?" Zoro asked, standing up to look at Kidd again. Kidd narrowed his eyes and nodded slightly. Zoro smiled again and shook his head, walking over to his makeshift desk area and took out a pair of tongs and a knife.

"What are you.."

"..doing? I'm gonna take an eye from him," Zoro explained again with a glint in his one eye. Killer's jaw dropped slightly open.. Kidd had no clue what was happening.

"Can I keep one?" Killer asked monotonously as usual, stepping forward. Kidd cursed under his breath.. Zoro gave Killer a weird glare as he shoved the utensils haphazardly into his pocket. Zoro shrugged and then nodded.

"Well, he's got two of 'em, right?"

Killer nodded slightly at the statement and approached Zoro to ask him a few questions while Kidd wandered around the building. He couldn't believe that Killer was starting an eyeball collection, of all things.

As Killer walked back to Kidd, Zoro was already feeling a bit of guilt for being so disturbing and taking eyes..but whatever, right? It was just karma for Law.

Kidd stood off leaning against a pillar in the building, eyes closed as he thought about everything he would have to deal with. Joker.. Joker... the blood on the hallway-wall.. more Joker..

* * *

Meanwhile, Killer was running through the streets a little less gracefully than usual, back from Law's old storage apartment with two jars for Zoro and was humming a chilling tune on the way. The wind was picking up and dark clouds were rushing in as Killer's golden hair floated on the breeze. All of a sudden his concentration was taken off the wind when the sound of crying met his ears. Usually he wasn't one to pursue the owner of the sound, but.. he could see who it was from.

It was from a small child sitting on a concrete step up to an especially torn-up house, and he looked like his parents were just murdered in front of him. Ah, that very well could have been the case, actually. Killer.. felt bad.

"Hey kid," Killer called out gently, stopping in the middle of the street to turn toward the kid, who looked up at him with his big blue, watery eyes with tear-stained rosy cheeks. Killer waited for a few moments for the kid to do something, but the kid only bit his lower lip and hugged his beloved teddy bear to his chest. The poor bear's arm was coming off and had some dried blood on the back. The kid could hold it in no longer and burst out in tears again and jumped up, running to cling to Killer's leg.

"Hey, hey.." Killer mumbled, trying to softly shake the kid off, who only hugged the bear to his jeans and sobbed away. Killer looked around frantically for the kid's parents, if he had any, and started calling out.

"Anyone missin' a kid?" Killer croaked out to the nearest buildings, but received nothing but the howling winds and eerie peace. The kid stopped crying to listen to the wind and momentarily forgot his troubles to look up at Killer. Killer looked back down at the boy and smiled a little with sad eyes..not that the kid could even see them.

"Got any parents?"

The kid looked down and shook his head, letting a few silent tears run down his cheeks, and then that's when it hit Killer. The man bent down as much as he could and got a good look at the boy..

The child was terribly bruised and battered and malnourished- skinny as a stick. His eyes were the only lively thing about him, and maybe his light brown curls on his head, and maybe his expressive eyebrows.. Killer felt terrible, again, so he smiled even more.

"Want some?"

The kid looked at him, or tried, and pouted at his inability to see Killer's eyes, and so he stood up tall and pushed the golden bangs back. Killer sucked in some air and froze in the middle of so many silently raging emotions.

The boy's eyes grew even wider and he stared straight into Killer's eyes which seemed to consume him in his entirety. The wind whipped between the two but they never lost the grip on their staring contest.

Killer blinked at the boy, feeling a growing emotion of fear erupt out of nowhere.

Killer had one black eye and one bright blue one, with long lashes decorating them both, and the blonde hated it. Those eyes had caused too much trouble in the past... but.. the boy didn't reel back and didn't do anything expected... he just stared at them in awe.

"I said, do you want some parents?" Killer repeated uneasily as the boy dropped his arms back down to his sides, bangs once more covering eyes. The boy looked around for a second, comprehending, and then pushed Killer's bangs back again and grinned, nodding his head with enthusiasm. Killer felt his pulse start to even out again as he picked the kid up quickly- the bear too- as it began to mist. The boy seemed to like the mist, though, and he giggled with arms around Killer's neck as the man ran a little more light-footed back through the town to Zoro's place.

First Killer knocked on the door and peeked his head in, seeing Zoro sitting behind his make-shift desk by the nearest wall. Zoro looked up at Killer and was about to speak when the blonde interrupted him for the sake of the child clinging to his chest.

"_A child is present_\- is there anything nearby that would possibly affect it's mental state?" Killer asked in the usual monotonous way. Zoro stood up from his desk, looked around at all the coffins in a mocking manner and replied, "Nope."

Killer opened the door fully and set down the boy right next to the door. Zoro smirked down at the child and then up at Killer who blushed oddly.

"Cover your eyes for a sec, okay?" Killer told the kid who immediately did as was told. Killer sighed and passed off the two jars from his pocket to Zoro who silently accepted them and retreated to put them in a drawer in his desk for safe-keeping.

"Thanks for all this Zoro," Killer told the cyclops, "Kidd can be really..pushy." The blonde was already trying to keep his language clean within the first five minutes of knowing the kid! Zoro only snickered in response.

"No problem. Everything worked out _fine_."

"Great! I was going to meet up with Kidd here for the extracted- umm.. you know, but I think I'll hang out somewhere else with the little guy and let Kidd come on his own at the appointed time. Oh, and uh.. kid, you can take your hands off now."

...

After hanging out on the roof of a nearby building for thirty minutes, they heard the muffled shouting and complaining of the red-head. Kidd was obviously upset for having to come with Killer anyway, but then Killer wasn't even there! He was pissed and he told Zoro so. Zoro handled it all fairly smoothly and sweet-talked Kidd into just taking the eye in the jar by himself. Kidd did so grudgingly and decided just to go back home.

Killer looked at the kid next to him who was still fascinated at the view of the city. The blonde hung out for another minute before deciding to go home, too.

Right as Kidd got to his 'house', the two travelers greeted Kidd who looked about ready explode.. Kidd was holding the jar with a golden eyeball with shaking hand.. and, well, he did come back carrying a child after all.

"Look, uh.." Killer started awkwardly as he reached Kidd, and fumbled for words, trying not to drop the boy who clung to his chest. Kidd didn't even look at Killer.. he was boring holes through the child, and then finally he switched his glare up to Killer. The boy was completely oblivious and stuck out his arms in the wind to feel Killer's golden mane that swished back and forth. Killer shrugged, or tried, and gave Kidd a 'I'm sorry.. I think?' look.

"Here," Kidd said, sticking out his hand, and Killer was confused as to what Kidd was asking for.. "gimme the kid."

Killer gasped internally.. he had become pretty protective of the kid in the few short minutes he had carried him through the worst part of town. Meanwhile, the boy had heard Kidd's deep voice- now up close- and he jumped a little, turning his head around to look at him. He looked very, very scared. Kidd simply stared back at the kid. The two stayed that way for a while, and Killer turned around for the kid to look over his shoulder. The boy cocked his head at Kidd and then saw the lipstick and bit his lip, shaking in silent laughter till he broke into a fit of giggles. A vein popped in Kidd's forehead.

"What.." Kidd asked, getting up to the boy, nose-to-nose almost, and the boy merely stuck out a finger and smeared the maroon lipstick out onto his pale cheek... Killer nearly laughed out loud once he turned his head to see. The boy just kept on laughing and pointing while Kidd kept his eyes closed tightly, taking deep breaths. He stood back up straight and took the boy out of Killer's arms with one hand, and gave Killer his eyeball..

"Thanks, Kidd..." Killer muttered while taking and putting the jar in his pocket. The kid watched on with slight horror and then Killer caught his glance, and so he smiled. Killer took his green eye out of his pocket and then held the two jars next to each other and the boy smiled even more, remembering Killer's two eyes with different colors, just like the ones he was showing off. Kidd shook his head and switched the boy back to Killer's arms in turn for the two jars, and then the three all turned and walked into Kidd's house as the rain began to fall more heavily. They made sure to avoid..that, uh..._ that_ hallway.

* * *

~ + **THE PLOT THICKENS! XD + ~**


	4. Chapter 4 - 'Family' Life

**Chapter 4: 'Family' Life**

The three sat on the floor in Killer's private bedroom within Kidd's building, leaning against the same wall in the same crossed-arm position.

Well, it started with Kidd running a hand through his hair, and so Killer thought he could amuse the kid, (and himself), by annoying Kidd. Therefore, he copied his captain and ran a hand through his hair till Kidd noticed. The redhead then he slowly put his hand down and then rested his head back against the wall. Killer copied, sending a look toward the kid who tilted his head in question. Kidd scoffed and pulled out a cigarette and lit it, and Killer copied... the kid hugged his teddy bear and giggled a little, and laughed even harder when Kidd got angry and started jabbing Killer in the side till Killer promised he would stop like a kid.

Then.. Kidd crossed his arms and almost immediately the other two followed and Kidd closed his eyes, letting out a puff of smoke angrily. Killer stuck his cigarette in his mouth to follow when Kidd plucked the thing out of his fingers and put in a nearby ash tray with a very annoyed expression which made the boy laugh and fall over onto Killer's lap with his teddy bear. Kidd glowered down at the boy while Killer smirked and righted the boy, placing him back upright next to him. The boy blinked up at him and hugged his arm playfully. Kidd scoffed and looked away in disgust, not being one for kids, then again he had thought the same thing about Killer..

"So, mister, what's your name?" the boy asked suddenly, his little voice lighting up the room in an instant like the lightning that was raging outside the house. Kidd looked at Killer, and Killer coughed, wondering how to respond... ya know, his title being 'Killer' and all...

The boy smiled up at them expectantly, thinking maybe 'Roger' or 'David' or.. or something handsome like that. Killer looked around and then have his best smile and opened his mouth.

"I'm Killer," Killer said with his smile, looking down at the boy who looked slightly if not really confused.. Kidd shook his head and took a long drag.. The boy tilted his head and then realized that the handsome blonde guy was being serious. With a raised eyebrow, he silently convinced Killer to push his bangs back again; Killer could read the kid's mind.. and so he took a breath and held his hair back for both to see and smiled.

He felt awkward actually showing off his eyes and not hiding them like normal. He felt... somewhat better, like he was at least accepted by the worst thug and the cutest kid, so what could be bad about that?

"So what's your name, then?" Kidd mumbled, trying to social with their new.. their new.. uh, what's that word, um, oh yeah 'friend'. The boy blinked up at Kidd with big, round eyes as he held his bear in his arms and then smiled shyly.

"Michael.. oh, but what's your name, mister?" Michael asked curiously, leaning on Killer's shoulder. Kidd looked around for a second before responding a bit sheepishly.

"Kidd.."

Michael's eyes opened wide and he scooted away from Killer, putting the blonde a little on edge. The kid nodded his head to himself as he remembered something he had heard about a 'Kidd'..

Meanwhile, Kidd shut his eyes and turned away, knowing he struck a bad chord with the boy while Killer looked between the two confusedly.

"I heard my mommy talk about some.. some 'kid' once, and how he.. how he took daddy.." Michael mumbled, hiding behind Killer's shoulder as he tried to keep his cool and stay close to Kidd. Eustass Kidd felt strange.. a very strange feeling indeed. Like.. he shouldn't have done something, but he still kinda meant to do it, but then he felt bad about it knowing that the one guy he killed that one time in that one certain place was this kid's dad.. but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"But.. you're really scary, but.."

Kidd looked down at Michael with a very contemplative look about him, except maybe he appeared to be slightly constipated as well, and waited for Michael to continue.

"I dunno.. you don't seem that bad," Michael finished, looking up at Kidd with those big, happy blue eyes that made Kidd want to go sit in a corner and stab himself. Killer shook his head lightly and pulled the curly-haired one against his side.

"You don't the half of it, kid, but just know that you're at least in strong hands," Killer whispered softly with a smile, his hand still clamping his bangs back. Michael was quiet for a moment and then slowly nodded, as if realizing that maybe Kidd really _was _a bad person; but.. they were strong, so they must be good, right? Good guys are always the strongest!

Meanwhile, Kidd sat looking down at his hands and wondered how many kids' parents he'd killed.

Killer ignored his depressing aura and picked Michael up in his arms, flying him like an airplane above his head. Michael broke into a grin till he was abruptly dropped into thin air above Killer's bed. Michael felt his heart start to pulse again after he landed safely and he laughed at the funny feeling. Killer smiled and then looked around, pulling drawers out of his desk till he found what he wanted.

He pulled out the thing and looked at it, slightly nervous, and then shook his head and sighed- Killer put his long blonde hair up in a high pony-tail. There; his bangs would stay off his face _and _he looked like a girl...

Kidd looked up from his cloud of guilt to see Killer spin around to test the feel of his pony-tail. Immediately an image of the blonde guy in a school girl outfit, flitting around some guy that she/he liked appeared. He couldn't contain himself and burst out laughing, nearly knocking Killer off his feet and startling Michael. The two looked at Kidd while he laughed like.. like.. *gasp* a normal person! Killer smirked and brushed the hair off his shoulder like a girl and made Michael laugh too, and soon Killer was giggling a little bit. The three, who were so different and abnormal, were actually functioning somewhat like a regular family.. other than the face that the two dads were killers and the son was technically kidnapped.

Just then, Michael's stomach growled like the thunder that rumbled outside the walls.

The two thugs looked over at the kid who merely smiled sheepishly and held his stomach. Killer raised an eyebrow. Within a moment, Michael was picked up and hauled off to the kitchen, which appeared decent enough to outsiders, and was set down on the counter. Kidd wandered in after a while to join in watching the blonde cook some food.

"So? Whatdya want?" Killer asked, opening up the fridge. Michael's eyes went wide and he couldn't choose.. Killer just ignored the weird look and pulled out some bacon, 'cause what kid doesn't like bacon?

* * *

After frying up quite a bit of bacon for the three manly 'men', Michael was stuffed and the other two would live through the night.

"I think.. I ate too much.." Michael mumbled, wobbling as he walked around, holding his belly. Kidd narrowed his eyes at Michael's back and thought he caught a hint of something.. some sort of.. I don't know, a feeling that maybe something was going to happen to Michael sooner or late-

Well, Kidd realized it wasn't going to be any later than right then.

And that's when Michael, the poor lad, accidentally might have spilled the contents of his stomach onto the floor.. Kidd turned away in disgust while Killer's eyes went wide and he looked around, like some sort of sick-child-fairy would appear to help him out, but no...

"W-what do I do?!" Killer screeched, getting out of his chair and hurried over to Michael and tried his best just to ignore the mess for the moment.

"I don't know! You're the mom here!" Kidd replied, finally standing up but not having the faintest idea of what to do. Killer mumbled stuff to himself and finally picked up Michael and carted him off to the bathroom, and left him there for the moment to come back and decide on how to.. deal with... _that_.

"I didn't ask for this, Killerrrr.." Kidd groaned, leaning against the kitchen counter. Killer opened and closed his mouth with no sound coming out, because quite frankly, he hadn't asked for _that _either, but he was obviously the one who was going to have to deal with it.

After a very clumsy job of cleaning up, and some gagging in the process, Kidd and Killer sat back to relax for second... and then Killer remembered that the kid was still in the bathroom. So the blonde hustled back to the bathroom to find Michael still in his dirty clothes but looking quite dumbfounded, but not at all upset.

"You.. you okay?" Killer asked quietly, bending down to his level. Michael nodded and reached his arms up for Killer to pick him up, and he did, avoiding any sort of mess that would be transferred. Bringing the boy back to his room, Killer set Michael down and looked him over, deciding what to do..

"Here.. let me get you something else to wear.."

So Michael raised his arms and Killer pulled off his shirt as cleanly as possible and then had the boy take off his dirty pants. Killer was just glad that Michael was potty trained after growing up the way he did..

Draping the clothes over his shoulder, Killer walked out of his bedroom and nearly ran into Kidd, who had a.. a troubled, no, a _concerned _look on his face. Killer smirked.

"He's fine. Now.. uhh.. put his clothes in the washer..? And bring back one of my shirts."

Kidd didn't even respond and nodded, taking the clothes from Killer, put them in the washer and snagged an old shirt of Killer's that was red with a black stripe down the middle. Walking back, Kidd threw the shirt to Killer who brought it back to Michael who calmly sat on the floor, looking around him like the room was the most interesting thing ever. Killer took the opportunity to give the kid some fun, sort of.. and tossed the shirt onto his head.

Michael flailed his arms at first in shock and then started laughing, pulling the shirt off of his head. Killer laughed too and helped Michael into his shirt-dress/tunic. He eventually still had to carry the boy around to avoid him tripping everywhere.

* * *

"Killer..?" Michael chirped uncertainly, scrambling up on the couch in between grown ups and onto Killer's lap, who merely hummed back in question. "I'm sorry that I threw up in your pretty house. That bacon was really good, though.."

Killer smiled and awkwardly patted Michael's head while Kidd looked a bit upset over not being apologized to. It was Kidd's house, after all, he earned it! Well.. not really, but whatever! But he let it go with a deep breath and thought about how suddenly poor he was, with half his frickin' fortune gone to some Joker puppet. Kidd closed his eyes and saw Law's eyes staring back at him right before he shot the bastard, and Killer still had at least one of the guy's eyes, which Kidd was still finding very, very..disturbing.

At around ten o'clock, after trying to watch some kid-friendly shows but failing miserably, Michael was curled up between Kidd and Killer on the couch, sleepily watching T.V. when an unfamiliar word popped up and caught the boy's attention...

"Hey..." Michael said with a yawn, "What does 'whore' mean?"

Kidd and Killer looked at each other, Kidd grabbed the T.V. remote, and turned off the T.V.

"Ahahaha.. funny story, um, well you see it's time for bed," Kidd said quickly whilst snatching Michael up into his arms. He became slightly freaked out at how quickly Michael snuggled up against his chest, the boy's brown curly hair tickling his neck. Killer watched in amusement as Kidd was resisting the temptation to drop the kid. Then it hit them.. where would the kid sleep? There was always the couch, but if someone would be stupid enough to break in.. So there was Kidd or Killer's bedrooms.

The two men looked at each other, then at Michael, then back up at each other with a synchronized sigh and statement.

"I guess he can stay with you..."  
"I guess he can stay with you..."

Killer narrowed his eyes at Kidd who merely shoved Michael into his arms, turning to walk into his bedroom. Killer blinked at Kidd's bedroom door after it shut tightly and then he looked down at their momentarily-adopted-...son.. who was already fast asleep in his arms.

With a somewhat-happy sigh and smile, Killer walked back into his own bedroom, shut the door, and tucked Michael into his bed with the bear. He climbed into bed after he got changed and sat there thinking for a minute; it might take a while to get used to a kid wrapping himself up with the long golden mane during the nighttime.. Killer shook his head and dismissed that thought as not very important.

While finally lying down next to Michael, there was one thought that kept reoccuring, with different emotions following each time; what a suspenseful day.

* * *

~ + thanks for reading! :D + ~


	5. Chapter 5 - The First Adventures

**Chapter 5: The First Adventures**

The night passed by with the roommates sleeping luxuriously as Kidd rolled and shuddered and couldn't sleep worth a darn. As soon as the sun peeked between the damp rain-stained brick buildings and through Kidd's window, the red-head groaned and cursed, rolling out of bed groggily. Kidd scratched his bare chest and slid open the top drawer of his dresser, pulling out one of his spare pistols.

Making a face at the bloody thing, he yawned and pointed the gun at the exterior wall and blew a hole into it, jolting poor Michael awake.

Meanwhile, Killer yawned and sat up stretching as if the singing birds had woken him up. Michael clung to the blonde like a lifeline.

"Killer, Killer, what was that?!" the boy squeaked, tugging lightly on the man's hair. Killer merely smirked sleepily down at the boy with his hair severely messed up in a comic manner.

"Oh yeah- better get used to the new alarm clock."

Michael tried to blink and calm himself down but ended up falling backwards into bed again and soon fell asleep. With a pat to the kid's head, Killer swung his long legs over the side of the bed and was about to stand up when Kidd barged into the room and pulled him out by his hair to the living room.

"Hey, watch it!"

"_Hey_ to you too! I hafta talk to you, so don't fuckin' complain!"

How Kidd's talking to him would comfort Killer into closing his mouth was supposed to work, Killer didn't know, but decided to comply anyway.

Landing abruptly on the couch, Killer looked up at Kidd who paced the room, stopped to light a cigarette, and then continued to pace. Killer let down his hair and flipped it around to get used to it again... and he just wanted to take a shower...

"Killer."

"Hmm?"

"The kid..."

"Michael?"

"Yeah.. _him_.. I can't do this. I'm not made for this kinda thing.. hell, your name is Killer but you're like a mom to him after a day and half!" Kidd threw his arms up, biting down on his cigarette in frustration, but then he calmed down and put a hand quietly in his pocket while Killer watched him, "but..."

"But..?"

"Damnit, I feel.. I feel bad alright?! I guess I just.."

Killer flicked his eyes towards a flash of color he saw through the cracked bedroom door to his room and then looked back at Kidd and said nothing, waiting. Kidd sighed and sat next to his- his friend and shoved his cigarette in the ash tray, even though he had just lit it, and sat with a depressed look.

"I guess I just never really thought about what I was doing before," Kidd finally croaked out, resting his head on his hands. Killer nodded slowly, thinking the same thing.

"Killer, I kill kids' parents like it's nothin', and I don't care, it's just that the kids'll get killed out there like their parents did. Hell.. we blow up buildings, Killer, buildings with probabl-"

"Stop."

"Why?!" Kidd roared, standing up tall while looking down at Killer with a sneer.

"Truth be told any parents around _here_ are bound to be bad ones that are most likely the ones that would kill their own kids," Killer explained calmly while Kidd looked out the window at the damp red-brick buildings and narrow streets he knew so well. Kidd knew the blonde was probably right.. the only people around there were drug-addicts and lunatics; neither would be willing to keep their kids in the house, which only meant another mouth to feed. Maybe it was better for the poor things.. no, either way they would be helpless and starving until, if, they grew older and stronger.

"Fine," Kidd whispered, looking down at his bare feet and red pajama pants. Killer looked up at Kidd, and then the slowly-opening bedroom door, "We'll keep 'im."

Michael peeked through the doorway at Killer and then looked at Kidd's pale back, noticing a scar or two. The boy realized what the older folk were talking about and his blue eyes started to sparkle. Killer blinked.

"What?"

"I said we could keep Michael!"

"We should eat a trail?"

"Fuck you, Killer, fuck you.. Michael's staying here."

Killer crossed his arms with a smirk as Michael ran out of his room and ran to constrict Kidd's leg in a crushing hug while laughing happily. Kidd grimaced and tried to shake the kid off, but Michael's happy grin made him stop resisting and just stay still, grabbing the kid's curiosity.

"Hey.. I'm sorry."

Michael blinked up at Kidd innocently, not knowing what he meant. Killer looked on with narrowed eyes.

"Do I need to spell everything out for you people? I'm sorry about your dad, I just.. no, there's no excuse. I'm sorry and I can't ever make up for it," Kidd declared with a straight face, looking directly down at Michael's big blue eyes and curly brown hair and the red and black shirt that the boy had been holding up to avoid tripping over it. Michael let go of Kidd's leg and stood back, looking at the ground while concentrating very hard. Kidd looked at the wall, waiting for anything.

"It's okay."

Kidd and Killer looked down at Michael who looked up at Kidd completely and whole-heartedly, with a few stray tears staining his cheeks.

"Because you're my daddy now.. right?" Michael chirped, smiling up at Kidd with a few sniffles. Kidd didn't know how to react.. Killer just smiled. Looking desperately around the ground for responses, Kidd bit his lip and wanted to really know if Michael was being honest, even if the kid was only like 6.

Michael stuck his arms up to Kidd and Kidd couldn't help but pick up the boy and set him on his shoulders, his curly hair brushing the ceiling due to Kidd's abnormal height.

"Don't go breaking his head off, Mr. Suddenly-Emotional," Killer said, pointing to Michael who still looked like he was having the time of his life. Kidd looked up upside-down-ly at Michael and then stooped down a little, allowing some extra room.

Then Killer had an idea...

"Kidd, let's go outside for a while before breakfast," Killer said with a smile, putting his hair back up in a messy bun. Kidd had to resist laughing as he followed Michael's 'mother' out of the front door and into the sunny but damp street below.

"It's so nice outside!" Michael burst out, throwing his hands in the air as if to catch the mid-summer sunlight. Kidd held onto the boy's legs and looked around for any wandering retards, and turned back to Killer when the coast was clear; none seemed to mind the fact that they were all half-naked. Killer, meanwhile, stretched and warmed up for something, and Kidd then understood..

Het set Michael down on the nearest spot of dry curb and walked back to the middle of the street, cracking his neck and rolling his bare shoulders in preparation for a great show. Michael sat there quietly, looking on curiously.. waiting.

"Ready.." Killer whispered.

"Set..!" Kidd said, taking stance with a smirk.

"Go!" Michael yelled out, happy to be including himself in whatever they were doing. The older two smirked and ran at each other, and pulled back their arms to punch each other square in the face. Killer laughed as he slid out of the way and swung a leg out to kick Kidd in the back. Kidd turned and caught Killer's foot, using the same momentum to spin and launch the blonde flying down the road.

Killer landed on his shoulder and rolled on the wet crumbling road, picking up a few cuts and scrapes, but who cares..

Kidd grinned evilly and rushed up behind Killer to plant his heel in the man's back, making Killer topple forward to catch himself with his unfortunate forehead.

Michael sat back and watched with wide eyes as they just kept on going, with Kidd getting beat-up a bit as well. But as soon as they both got locked punching each other's jaw, the bell for breakfast rang in their heads.

* * *

After a calmer, less-food breakfast for Michael, Killer decided to take a shower. As the blonde walked off towards the bathroom, Michael snuck up to him and clung to Killer's long leg and was dragged along silently for a while till they got to the bathroom doorway. Kidd leaned back and watched in silent amusement from the couch. Killer blinked and looked down at Michael.

"What are you doin'?"

Michael blinked back up at Killer.

"Hugging your leg..?"

"..."

"I wanna take a bath, too!"

Killer nodded slowly while looking back at Kidd who threatened to burst into laughter. With a sigh, Killer ushered Michael into the bathroom.

...

Michael didn't exactly get a bath, but he did get his first shower; the sign of a man. At first, he was pretty sure it was just raining on the inside of the house, but Killer pointed out a weird looking thing with holes in it that actually just teleported the rain from some other place!

The shower took a while only because it always takes Killer a long time to wash all his hair, and then they hopped out and let Kidd take his shower afterwards.

While in Killer's bedroom, the blonde stood back and observed the problem again; Michael stood flapping his arms in a large white t-shirt like a bird and nearly fell on his face as he attempted to waddle up to Killer. Killer put a thoughtful finger to his lip and thought about this problem, and turned on his heel to calmly walk back up to the bathroom door. He opened it and peeked in, scaring Kidd into falling backwards in the tub with an almighty thud and nearly breaking his foot on the tub fixture. Killer winced slightly as Kidd bellowed out a long and loud string of curses, regaining painful balance on his feet.

"We're gonna go shopping," Killer monotonously to the fuming naked captain and closed the door with a wave. Kidd blinked and then calmed, realizing what Killer had said.. "shopping".. and that could only mean one thing.

"WAIT!"

Kidd jumped out the tub and nearly slipped into the door again on the tile floor, grabbing onto the doorknob for support.. and ended up opening the door and banging himself back onto the floor again. Killer stopped where he was and slowly turned around, putting a hand to his mouth at seeing Kidd lying on the floor spread-eagle and dripping in water.

"Damn it all.." Kidd moaned, hoisting himself back up to his feet again. He was pretty sure his tailbone was going to break if he fell one more time..

Michael blinked and ran as fast as possible to Killer to see what was happening and then blinked up at Kidd in his naked glory, and then slowly backed up to hide behind Killer's leg upon seeing Kidd's face which was nearly as red as his hair. Kidd turned and grabbed a towel off the rack and tied it around his waist, very flustered.

"So, what am I waiting for?" Killer asked calmly with a smirk, raising an eyebrow at Kidd. Kidd scoffed..

"You're taking _him _'shopping'? What's wrong with you!?"

"I'm just gonna get him some fuckin' clothes. Calm down," Killer responded in a bored tone, knowing full well that Kidd had thought he'd meant buying drugs, or something/someone.. Michael said nothing and slowly inched away from Killer's leg and stared up at Kidd with confusion. Kidd gave the kid an unsure look. Michael slowly shuffled up to Kidd, and looked down at the ground, and then an evil grin showed up... Michael quickly reached up and pulled Kidd's towel off and then turned and threw at Killer's face, picking up his t-shirt-dress to run away as fast as his legs could carry him while laughing like an idiot.

Kidd's face paled and he mumbled something inaudible to himself, backing up behind most of the door.

"It's not like I haven't seen you naked before.." Killer stated, rolling his eyes while the towel fell off his face. Kidd scoffed.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's any less embarrassing!"

"Eh. That's your problem, Mr. Sensitive."

"You're saying you're any better than me?!"

"Yes."

"..Well aren't you the sl-"

"Killer, Killer! Let's goooo!" Michael, chirped, running back up to the blonde's feet to toss the towel back to Kidd's face. Kidd's eye twitched as the towel fell. Killer smirked and shot a two-finger wave to Kidd as he turned on his heel and followed Michael down the hallway and out the front door, not even noticing the large, red, iron-y stain on the wall...

* * *

Killer and Kidd didn't own a car...

too expensive...

ehehe..

Killer ended up carrying Michael after 10 minutes of difficult walking through their town, and after 20 more minutes Killer and Michael came across the nearest, happiest looking clothing shop. Michael looked up at the lit-up sign and 'ooh'-ed and 'ahh'-ed as they passed through automatic sliding doors and into the shop, people shuffling away and staring from afar at Killer.

"Finally takin' responsibility for one, eh?" one man commented under his breath as he watched Killer walk toward the kid's section of the store.

"Hey.. isn't that-?!"  
"Yeah.. it is! But don't say his name! He'll kill you, too!"  
"But what about that puny kid with him..?"

Killer sneered under his bangs and turned his head toward the two boys who were peeking out from behind a row of shelving, and the boys froze in place while Killer laughed and set down Michael on his feet.

"Look around. Take what you like," Killer told Michael, leaning against a shelf while Michael blinked and looked around, waddling awkwardly around till he found a few shirts and a few pairs of shorts. Killer stole away quietly for a second to look on his own for something.. and when he found the perfect pair, he ran back and found Michael being helped out of a pile of clothes by the two boys, who were secretly planning on 'saving' the boy from Killer. Killer raised an eyebrow and smirked as the boys froze again and let go of Michael.

"We didn't do anything to him!" the first curly-haired boy said.

"Yeah!- well.. actually, we were saving him from you, you..! You sick bastard!" the second black-haired boy yelped, pointing a small dagger at Killer who merely stood there and created an awkward atmosphere; Michael was starting to think that Killer was designed to do that, honestly..

Michael only looked up at the boys calmly, and then looked at the dagger with wide eyes, and then looked at Killer, who hadn't moved a muscle except to smirk.

"No need to do that," Killer said finally, unfolding his arms. The boys both reeled back at the movement and tried to hide behind each other.

"Killer, Killer! Look at all the cool stuff I got!" Michael announced happily in the middle of everything, holding up a shirt and a pair of pants for his guardian to see. Killer smiled and gave the boy a thumbs-up. The first boy paled.. the kid actually knew _the_ Killer?! The 'massacre man'?!

"A kid shouldn't have so many options, though, so let's pick out what you like most," Killer said, thinking secretly in his mind the perfect look for his little model. Michael put down his arms and blinked, then nodded happily as Killer pulled him up to his feet. The boys were around the corner, keeping an eye on the two.. just in case.

"You think he's just foolin' the kid?" the first said.

"I can't tell.." the second said.

Killer looked through the pile with Michael, and then he found it..

'It' was a black tank top with bright blue trim, and it would look sooooooo good on Michael, for sure, the kid would wear it everyday with a pair of.. ooh, khaki cargo shorts and a black belt.. and...

Killer kneeled down and told Michael to close his eyes. Michael closed his eyes and put his hands over them too to make sure, and Killer put something over his head and down around his neck.. something.. something heavy?

"There!"

Michael opened his eyes and blinked, and looked down at the thing around his neck..

It was a pair of black goggles similar to Kidd and Killer's and looked excellent on Michael, or so Killer thought.

"God, do you look smokin'!" Killer teased, nudging Michael with an elbow and realized that the kid was too young to even comprehend.. he sighed. "Here, come with me, let's get these awesome new clothes on you."

So Killer started walking toward the changing room with the clothes hanging over his arm and let Michael toddle along behind him. Michael snuck up to Killer and took his tan hand in his own small one, and giggled happily as Killer held on just as tightly.

"Thank you.." Michael whispered, leaning into Killer's leg in affection. Killer smiled down at the boy and walked into the nearest open stall, closing the door behind them.

"Oh my god, he's gonna kill him in there!" the first boy screamed, shaking the other boy by his shoulders till he got tired.

"Aahh.. dizzy.."

"Luffy, now's not the time!"

"Usopp.. then you go save the kid.."

"Luffy, shut up and come with me to be a brave warrior that we've always wanted to be! This is our chance to take down Killer, _the _Killer!" Usopp shouted, slapping his hand to his bicep to show his strength. Luffy regained balance and thought about it, finding himself going along with Usopp towards the changing room and looking under stalls till they found Killer's brown boots and blue pant-legs.

"Aha! Give up, Killer! We're here to save the boy from your evil hands!" Usopp declared, banging on the stall door while Luffy took a fighting stance beside him. Killer finished pulling the tank top over Michael's head and then turned his head slowly toward the door. Michael blinked up at him, and pulled the shorts awkwardly on by himself.

Killer stood up tall and opened the door with a sigh, towering directly over Usopp; it was Usopp's 5'7 against Killer's 6'5. Luffy shook in fear but held his ground.

"The one time I come near here and I'm not slicing someone up, I get stood up against by a couple-a-kids who think they have a chance!" Killer mumbled, inching Usopp farther and farther back till Usopp's back was against a shelf and Killer was right over him, pulling a glinting scythe from its scabbard threateningly. Usopp screeched and yelped and begged for mercy while Luffy froze and then tried to punch Killer in the side, only making Killer glare at him.

"I'm not doing anything, you see! I'm just here getting some clothes.." Killer reasoned, gesturing back to Michael who tried putting the black belt through the belt loops but missed a few in the process, looking rather pitiful. Usopp and Luffy didn't know what to do..

"Well.. yeah?! I b-bet that you're just dressing him up to make him look g-good in his coffin!" Usopp stuttered, pulling his dagger back out and at Killer's throat. Michael looked up as Killer sighed and stepped back from Usopp, shoving his hands in his pockets moodily.

"No, really. I'm his.. his.."

Michael blinked up at Killer.

"You're my daddy!" Michael exclaimed happily, running from his forgotten white t-shirt to hug Killer's leg like his teddy bear. Killer sighed in relief and picked Michael up in his arms. Michael grinned and pushed Killer's bangs back to see his eyes and..

Usopp and Luffy stared and backed away.. with stars in their eyes.

"S-SO COOL!" Luffy drooled, taking in every aspect of the different colored eyes. Usopp nodded with him and stared while Michael and Killer blinked at them. How.. how could their eyes look like stars?

"...Here.. let me put my hair up..?" Killer said, taking a band off his hands and putting his hair up in a high ponytail to keep the boys content. The two onlookers only fangirled more at how long Killer's hair was, and how it swished it in the wind (there wasn't even any wind..) and all that jazz while Killer fixed Michael's belt and pulled his black goggles out from under his tank top, resting them on the kid's collarbone.

"There.. perfect," Killer mused, standing back to look at Michael's outfit... oh, new shoes...

Killer ran out and made his fangirls watch over his son while he quickly snatched up a pair of black boots for Michael. Once the boy was wearing the boots, the look was complete.

"C'mon, let's go," the blonde said, taking Michael's hand in his own and led him out of the changing room and back to the forgotten pile. Killer and Michael blinked at it. Luffy and Usopp followed like dogs follow their master, and Killer had the two carry the pile to the check-out line.

The register lady was trembling and threatened to scream, if needed, upon seeing Killer approaching from afar, and then found herself distracted by his eyes and hair, and ended up letting Killer walk off with the entire pile for 5 dollars.

"Who was that..?" the lady asked her nearest co-worker, who reminded her that it was Killer, but the lady shook her head.. "that handsome guy couldn't have been Killer.."

"Yeah, you're right.. and with those kids tagging along with him, too.."

"Nothing's cuter than a guy who likes kids!"

...

"We're home!" Killer yelled as he stepped back into the building, smiling as Michael flew past his legs and into the house and past 'that' wall again without noticing. Usopp and Luffy wrestled themselves through the door to pile the clothes onto the floor just past the doorway.

"Give us a tour of your castle, O mighty prince!" Usopp asked, bowing down with Luffy in front of Killer, and were thrown out of their trance as Michael led a yawning Kidd out into the hallway, who narrowed his eyes at the teenagers in his 'house'..

"Who're you punks?" Kidd asked the two, who yelped and went scrambling towards the door only to find Killer blocking it from their reach. Luffy's teeth chattered and he turned his head back towards Kidd who was advancing on them, sending him into a panic mode and jumped into Usopp's arms, only to fall back to the floor since Usopp couldn't hold anything at that point.

"E-E-E-ustass... Kidd!"

"What'd you just call me?" Kidd asked, poking his face up into Luffy's, making the boy scream and lash out and try to do anything he could against the man, but to no avail.

"They said your name, _Eustass_," Killer teased, crossing his arms while Kidd glared daggers at the blonde, and all were pulled out of their thoughts when Michael let out an interested chirp as he discovered the blood-stain on the wall.

"Kidd, Kidd, what's this?" Michael, poking a finger in the half-dried liquid and was about to lick it when both men pushed and shoved and scrambled their way over to keep Michael from ingesting the quack doctor's blood. Usopp and Luffy stared at the blood stain with wide eyes and froze again... what did they get themselves into..?!

"Nothing, nothing.. just some red paint!" Kidd muttered quickly, trying anything to keep Michael from trying anything else.

"Yeah, yeah, it'd be bad if you ate any of it!" Killer continued, dragging Michael to the kitchen to wash his hands.

Usopp's vision focused only on the stain and he could just see what happened in his mind... and he let out a blood-curdling scream and dragged Luffy with him and out of the house, taking off down the street to anywhere but there.

Kidd, Killer and Michael blinked in unison.

"They're probly gonna call the cops on us," Kidd noted calmly, standing back while crossing his arms.

"Yeah, but that's nothing we can't handle," Killer replied, crossing his arms in the same way as Kidd.

"Yeah, stupid cops can't do anything," Michael agreed, folding his still-wet arms like his parents. Kidd and Killer looked at each other.. they hoped that Michael was just trying to act 'cool' like his parents..

"_Anyway_.. you've got some awesome clothes there, kid," Kidd commented a little hesistantly, noting the goggles around Michael's neck. Killer smiled and then gathered up the rest of the clothes in his arms to bring.. to bring.. well, there's a problem there.

"Where are we gonna..?" Killer mumbled, dropping the clothes back onto the ground, making Kidd a bit annoyed. Meanwhile, Michael ran around, getting used to his new boots and the funny _thunk _they made as he walked. He still listened to his dads' conversation, though.

"There's more than one story in the building, ya know.." Kidd reminded Killer. Killer put a finger to his mouth to gnaw on while he thought about it and he watched Michael for a moment before shaking his head.

"One of us would have to move up with him then," Killer decided, crossing his arms. Kidd looked back at Michael and then back at the blonde, "I don't like the idea of him being along up there, you know.."

"Well, yeah. So.. I guess you can move up there and I'll stay down here to be the first indestructable line of defense," Kidd concluded, punching Killer in the arm to show that the blonde was a wimp. Killer laughed and then punched back. Soon the two were fighting all-out, and it was only when the sounds of sirens became audible did they stop. Kidd backed away with a _tch_. Michael ran to Killer's leg and held on in fright.

"Go and toss me my silver pistol and then get your ass and his up to the top of this motherfucker," Kidd cussed, and walked to lock and lean against the front door to temporarily keep the police at bay. Killer did what he was told and then saluted Kidd, carrying Michael up to the top, jumping stairs 4 by 4 to amuse the child in the midst of chaos.

Kidd shoved the silver pistol in the front of his pants and took out his other pistol to hold in his hands. The cops banged on the door and tried fruitlessly to unlock and push it open. Finally, Kidd smirked and stepped away from the door just as they splinterred their way through it with a battering ram, soon flooding the entranceway around Kidd's back.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP, EUSTASS KIDD!"

Eustass Kidd grinned and dropped his pistol in front of his feet, raising his maroon-nailed hands in the air. A cop inched slowly towards his back with his gun pointed at him, and just at the last second, the red-head pulled the second pistol from his pants and shot the cop square in the forehead, kicking the man back towards the others who aimed and shot at him. Kidd snatched the other pistol from the ground and shot at anything that moved, and did his fair-job of kicking and jabbing when necessary, too.

Soon, Kidd survived with only some minor gunshot wounds that grazed an arm and a leg, and a tazer wound, but that was it- Kidd walked away from the ordeal grinning.

As the last round of shots were fired, Killer told Michael to stay put until they came back, and ran downstairs to help Kidd a little uneasily haul some bodies off to Zoro quickly like the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that..

The living-but-injured cops stumbled into one squad car and sped back to the station only to be immediatey be put in the hospital- no cops went back to the building to try and take the two monsters out again _or _to bring back the three abandoned cars, one of which would remain beside the apartment as a sort of vehicular statue. Kidd and Killer wanted to have some fun to distract them from their raging guilt, so they stood back and pondered the still-running squad cars. They looked at each other.

Both threw themselves into a car and revved to sound like racecars. They looked like maniacs as Kidd shot his pistol out the window and down the road to signal 'START!'.

Tires screeched and squealed as the two roared down the empty streets and swung around corners, nearly threatening to roll. Killer could hear Kidd's laughter echoing crazily, even above the cars, and nudged into the side of Kidd's car with his. Kidd shot him a look through the window that was the quivalent of 'the fuck do you think you're doing?' Killer laughed and backed off as they turned again, soon seeing the courthouse come into view. Killer honked at Kidd as a sign, and Kidd caught his idea. They both swerved around the now steady flow of traffic and bumped over the curb and into the courthouse lawn, skidding to a hault just beyond the front door.

Kidd and Killer laughed and guffawd for a moment before the realized people were going to actually _see _what they had just done, unlike the uninhabited lawless neighborhood they took over. Killer paled and scrambled from his car, throwing himself into the back of Kidd's squad car. Kidd floored it just as sirens of all sorts started blaring from seemingly everywhere. The car tore through even more lawn and ripped through the streets, weaving wildly.

Killer smirked and even giggled a little at the scared look on Kidd's face- it reminded him who was _really _in charge of things.

* * *

While his parents were making fools of themselves, Michael found his entertainment in playing with the simple white curtains in an abandoned bedroom at the top- and he bounced on the squeaky bed- _and _he drew on the walls with some crayons he found in the bottom drawer of a wooden dresser. Finally he looked out the window at the brick buildings and the afternoon sun as it wove its way through the buildings and off of windows to his eyes. He grinned and stood up as he heard loud footsteps start to rattle up the metal staircase. Michael ran down the flights of steps as quickly as possible and met Kidd at the 3nd floor.

"Hey kid," Kidd said, suddenly aware of the blood that still coated his chest- he was a little out-of-it after that close encounter with the law of all sorts.. Michael didn't care and jumped up into Kidd's arms, happy to feel his dad's strong arms again.

"Hi Kidd," Michael replied happily, putting his goggles up over his eyes to look through, and giggled at the sudden dark shading of everything, "These are so cool!"

"Yeah, I bet," Eustass said with a bit of hidden sarcasm, and smirked as he carried Michael under his arm like a barrel down the stairs to his living room where Killer was cleaning up the hardwood floors with a mop.

"Hey Michael," Killer said with a wave, and continued to press the wet mop onto the floor to get the blood off, and then dunked it back in the bucket to wash the blood off before it dried anywhere, like the wall..

"Let me do that and go help the kid get organized somewhere," Kidd told Killer as he snatched the mop from his hands and scrubbed the floor for him. Killer blinked at the red-head's unusual kindness and shrugged, taking arm-fulls of clothing up the stairs to the bedroom that Michael was just in minutes before. Michael liked the view and the feel of it, but... the bed might've been a bit too lumpy for his liking..

"You like this room, huh?" Killer asked, dumping the clothes onto the floor to organize and put away later. Michael nodded and led Killer by the hand to his almost unrecognizable crayon picture of Kidd and Killer on the cream-colored wall.

"Look, look at what I drew!" Michael beckoned happily, putting his hands on his hips in pride of his work. The only way Killer could tell what he was looking at was the red and gold streaks and the black shapes which were their goggles. Killer smirked and put a hand on Michael's curly hair.

"Good job, bud. I love it," Killer said, and then he looked around the picture.."but where's your name?"

"My name?"

"Yeah, once you draw something, you have to put your name on it so that people know who drew it," the blonde explained, and then he looked around the floor for a crayon and then handed it to Michael to sign his name. Michael put the crayon to the wall and shakily drew an 'M'.. but couldn't go any further.

"I don't know the rest.." Michael admitted, dropping the crayon to the floor grumpily. Killer raised and eyebrow and realized that they actually.. had to... teach the kid... Killer sighed.

"That's okay. Good enough for now. Now let's get your clothes put away, right?"

"Right!" Michael affirmed, hugging Killer's leg lovingly.

Killer smiled down at his son and rubbed the boy's head.

"I love you, daddy!"

"Love you too, kid."

~ + AWWW XD hope you liked this chapterrrr! stay tuned cuz theres probly gonna be like.. idk, 15 more chapters... _ XD + ~


	6. Chapter 6 - The Wild, Wild West

**Chapter 6: Wild, Wild West**

So later that night, after Killer and Michael had fully moved everything up to their new rooms at the top, Kidd slept spread-eagle across his bed, snoring as the wind blew through the cracked window. The moonlight flooded his room like a silver version of the sun.

It was about 2 A.M. when they came..

Kidd had forgotten about his deal.. and apparently Killer did too, or didn't want to risk waking up Michael to deal with it.. so when a soft knocking at the side door woke up Kidd, he momentarily thought he was being ambushed. He slipped silently out of the bed and grabbed his pistol from his coat pocket which hung around the doorknob of the door, and stepped quietly around the first floor till he met the door.

The person kept knocking, growing louder, and Kidd saw the faint shadows of multiple people through the dirty window. He scoffed and walked up to the door, flinging it open with one hand as he put his pistol to the first unlucky person's forehead who screeched and raised up their hands. The man who stood next to him rolled his eyes and placed his own barrel against Kidd's neck and the two gunmen stood there for a tense moment. Several side-men dragged along people, women, at their sides; women dressed in barely anything at all..

Kidd closed his eyes tightly as he remembered what he had set up a week before and lowered his gun, but didn't leave the doorway.

"Here. Your lovely-ladies are here for you," the gunman stated with wavering voice, stepping in front of the cowardly assistant. Kidd rubbed a hand over his face and just shook his head, turning away from the door as he pointed his gun back to the other man's chest.

"Not now and not again.." Kidd said tiredly, and then lowered his gun and shot between the people's feet, making the girls scream and the men shout and lunge toward him for disobeying his promise. Kidd merely shot around them all till what remained of their sanity, and the owners of the broken sanity, limped off elsewhere and away from there.

Kidd stepped back in the house and locked up the door, groaning about stupid pimps and stupid need-for-sleep, and practically fell back asleep before his body hit the bed again.

* * *

At about 8, Killer woke up naturally, somewhat confused as to why Kidd didn't wake him up like usual. Maybe he was just too far up to hear it.. or he was just too tired to hear it. The blonde got up and stretched a little, tying his hair up in a ponytail as he went to check on Michael who was across the hall from him.

"Morning, bud," Killer greeted, peaking his head inside the room to find Michael with his goggles up over his eyes and pretending to punch and kick like his parents did. He thought he was the awesomest thing yet, and, yeah, in his mind maybe he was. It took a few delayed seconds for the boy to notice his dad standing in the doorway, and he squealed in happiness when he saw.

"Morning!" Michael said excitedly, pushing his goggles up onto his forehead as he ran up and hugged Killer's leg. Killer smirked and picked up Michael, and hauled him down the stairs to go see what was up with Kidd and his inner alarm-clock.

"Morning, Ki.."

Killer looked around the kitchen and living room as he set Michael down on the floor, who immediately padded off to Kidd's bedroom door and pushed it open, creaking slightly. Just as the kid had gotten past the doorway, Killer remembered what day it was and instantly regretted letting the kid wander off to _there.._

"Michael...?" Killer asked, hurriedly walking off to meet up with Michael who only blinked up at him and then looked at Kidd who lay snoring away in his bed, _alone_, with no strange girl.. phew. Killer let out a sigh of relief and let Michael do whatever he wanted to wake up Kidd, and set out to cook breakfast.

"Wake upppp~" Michael groaned as he attempted to pull the red-head out of the bed by his arm, and only ended up loosing his grip and fell back on his butt. The kid pouted and crossed his arms, and then scrambled up next to Kidd and decided to pull on Kidd's hair. Kidd grumbled and swatted at Michael in his sleep. He only nearly avoided backhanding the poor kid and then flipped over and fell back asleep. Michael puffed his cheeks in frustrated-thought... and then the smell of food lured him back into the kitchen where he got first dibs on pancakes.

Killer took the opportunity to play a prank on Kidd, who somehow just naturally avoided all the blonde's pranks without having any prior knowledge to them or anything.

So Killer told Michael to stay put in the kitchen and snuck into Kidd's room and closed the door behind him...

Several minutes later, Kidd then had a very nice purple Sharpie mustache and goatee, his pants were pulled down, and Killer finished off by shooting a bullet off right next to Kidd's head at the already hole-y alarm-clock wall. Killer placed the gun next to Kidd's arm just as the red-head shot up and instinctively grabbed the pistol and aimed it at Killer.

"The fuck d'you think you're doin', scaring me like that!?" Kidd yelped, wide-eyed and red faced, and then hurriedly pulled up his pants after noticing that they were down for some reason. Killer smirked and shrugged calmly, turning halfway towards the door.

"Thought I might wake you up for once and.. well, I thought you might want to know how you look at the moment," Killer suggested, opening Kidd's bedroom door. He bowed and walked out backwards like a royal servant, and Kidd was very.. nervous.

Killer walked back to the dining room table and joined in the pancake-fest with Michael, and had a hard time controlling himself as he heard Kidd throw something in the bathroom upon seeing his reflection. The bathroom door slammed open and Kidd came rushing out in a fury, pointing to his own face.

"O.K.! Do you know the meaning of the word 'permanent'?!" Kidd bellowed, particularly toward the assumed culprit.. aka, Michael. The kid blinked and shook his head innocently, but couldn't help the grin and few giggles that resulted in seeing Kidd in such a pitiful state. Kidd fumed and stormed back to the bathroom, trying everything to get the accursed purple drawn-on facial hair off of his pale skin. Killer started laughing uncontrollably while Kidd started scrubbing at his face with such a intensity that the other two thought that the man's face would just scrape off and leave a bloody-mess to deal with afterwards.

Michael looked between the two and then grinned as Killer told him the tale..

"He's just mad because he's never been able to grow a beard!" Killer whispered and soon regretted it as Kidd whirled around and glared at Killer, freezing the room.

"You.." Kidd growled, and he ended up chasing the laughing blonde all over the building and out the front door, into the street where it was already starting to become hot and humid. Luckily, there was somewhat of a breeze, and Michael at least liked that part while he followed the other two out onto the front porch. From there he watched in awe once more as Killer actually was just dodging Kidd who swung at him in anger.

"You really need to work on your anger-management problems, Eustass-san- this could be a major problem," Killer teased, throwing a punch to Kidd's face for good measure, and received a growl and a punch right back to the scraped-up forehead where he had landed on the road the day before.

"You really need to watch your fuckin' mouth!" Kidd hissed back.

Michael just smiled at his dads' fight, and noticed a few bums that came up the road to watch the brawl, placing their bets on the punks while standing close to the monument-like squad car from the day before.

"I bet tha' kid on Killer's win," one man said, pointing a jagged finger towards Michael, who only blinked back at him. The man's opposer scoffed.

"Wha's he to ya?" he responded, and they both laughed at each other and wound up both on the ground in a drunken mess. Killer watched the men carefully, hands behind his back as he dodged and threw a kick every once and a while to keep Kidd at it.

"Look behind you," Killer whispered in Kidd's ear as he passed behind his friend like a ninja and then whirled back around again just as Kidd turned around to look at a few of the bums. The guys were dangerously close to Michael and their wide-open front door. Kidd stopped his fight and glowered at the drunks.

"The fuck are you staring at?" Kidd threatened, even though his face was only slightly scary with half of it red from scrubbing and half with an almost-gone purple tint. The men about peed themselves from fright anyway and backed up behind the cop car, but it took a few steps and a draw of a pistol to really scare them off.. except for one daring young man who leaned against the front of their house next to the steps with crossed arms. Even though he glanced warily at the white and black police vehicle he still looked like a cocky kid- a cocky bastard indeed.

"Well ain't you special," Kidd mumbled, approaching the man slowly and menacingly. Michael didn't really mind the other man, though; he wasn't scary looking or doing anything bad, and he was handsome and looked strong too, so he must be a good guy just like his dads! Right..?

"I like to think so," the bare-chested young man replied, tapping his black boot on the cracked concrete sidewalk in amusement. Kidd smirked evilly.

"Yeah, I can see why; your head must be completely hollow," Kidd taunted as his feet met the street's curb, both just outside of each others' reach. The man laughed and pulled his orange cowboy hat down over his eyes, shoving his hands into his black cargo shorts calmly. Kidd was starting to get annoyed, but he couldn't loose his cool right in front of Michael..(As if he hadn't just done so a moment earlier with Killer.)

"What's a cowboy doin' outside a'the wild, wild west?" Kidd asked as Killer walked over and sat on the top stair next to Michael, just watching.. wondering.

"I reckon that this _is _the wild, wild west considerin' that even though your name ain't Billy, there's still a Kidd that shoots up whatever he likes here, too," the other replied with a teasing tone in his voice, and he poked the brim of his hat up with one finger, and looked up at the red-head with a narrow-eyed grin. Kidd wanted to scowl but ended up smirking instead, not knowing how to react.

Killer studied the cowboy, looking him over and noticed a tattoo on the man's back.. and he recognized it.

"Newgate, huh?" Killer asked. The man laughed and stepped out to show Killer the full extent of the skull and cross-bones tattoo on his back.

"Damn right. Even though the old man's long gone, I still hold him in a high place for what he did for me," the cowboy noted, turning back to Kidd.

Killer glanced at Kidd; Edward Newgate was a very powerful man who once controlled a lot of the area, and so once Newgate went and got himself stabbed, all the small-fry popped up and fought for slices of the old man's property. Kidd ended up gaining a lot just by himself, shooting and cutting up a lot of men along the way, but never once tried to go up against a surviving Newgate follower by himself; they were just bad news.

"You got a name _son_?" Kidd asked, going with the western theme. The cowboy smirked.

"Ace."

"'Scuse me?"

"Portgas D. Ace's the name," Ace said, touching the brim of his hat with his fingers again. Killer knew this guy was bad news.. he was definitely a big-shot among Newgate's men, after Marco and Thatch..

"So, Eustass Kidd, I've come here to strike up a fine deal with you," Ace said, pointing a finger towards the red-head, who already felt slightly on-edge about the whole situation, "see the kid?"

The man switched his point to land on Michael, instantly making Kidd tense up and glance between the blonde and brunette, and then back to the black-haired cowboy.

"I've heard some mighty interestin' things 'bout 'im; mighty-fine things indeed.." Ace said, grinning, "something 'bout maybe, a man called 'Joker'?"

Kidd took no time in clenching the man's throat in his hand against the brick wall, making Michael jump up and squeal. Killer had to hold back the boy.

"The fuck do you think your doing?!" Killer screamed at Kidd, who turned back towards him like Killer had just risen from the dead.

"I should ask you the same!"

"I take it that.." Ace paused and took a calm but large breath, distracting Kidd with his rising chest as he slipped something from his pocket and held it up to the underside of Kidd's wrist, "you might want some bodyguard assistance?"

Ace flicked the lighter to life and burnt Kidd's wrist, and when the red-head winced but didn't let go, he kicked Kidd right in the gut with his heel and dug his nails into the burnt flesh, drawing blood from Kidd even after he was back on his feet again. Kidd shoved Ace away and muttered curses, shaking his wrist like the pain would somehow fling off of him.

Killer narrowed his eyes at Ace while Michael stared on in confusion. Kidd cussed. Ace grinned.

"Fire-Fist Ace at your service," Ace said while clutching his orange hat to his chest in a bow to Killer, sending a wink up to Michael who smiled and muffledly-giggled.

* * *

"Make yourself at home.. I guess," Killer said, letting Ace inside their house and led him down to the basement discussion-room, which.. was still burnt to a crisp (like Kidd's wrist) around the doorway-wall, but was for the most part alright otherwise. Kidd put Michael up in his room, meanwhile, and decided just to let Killer handle the discussion with Mr. Fire-Fist. He still didn't exactly trust the Newgate-man..

"You were awesome, Kidd!" Michael told Kidd, hugging his dad's calf as Kidd sat down on Michael's bed. Kidd awkwardly smiled, feeling awfully sorry that he looked like a wimp in front of the kid when Ace decided to torch his arm. Kidd looked down at his torn up and burnt wrist and winced. Michael blinked up at him and looked curiously at his wrist too.

"Stay here.. I'll be right back," Kidd said, and closed Michael's bedroom door behind him as he walked around the apartment till he found the bathroom and ran cold water over his wrist and shivered, not liking the stinging feeling one bit, but bore with it and washed it with a little soap. Couldn't hurt to wash it, right? Right... infections suck, even for the toughest killer.

Kidd stood back from the mirror and looked at himself again.. the purple marker was still faintly there, but Kidd didn't want to go ripping skin off his face, so he let it be for the moment, grudgingly.. Meanwhile, he looked tired as could be and his hair was limp and parted in all different places and looked like a mess of bruises and cuts from Killer; Killer...

But.. Kidd thought about Killer, and the more he did, the more he realized that Killer had never used his scythes on him. Killer had put them on his hands during practice fights with the red-head but never even brought them close to cutting Kidd when he had the chance to. Heck, Killer was fending off the 'captain' with his hands literally behind his back and wasn't intimidated in the least by Ace's knowledge of Joker and affiliation with Newgate.

"So.. was Killer holding back the entire fucking time?!" Kidd hissed in frustrated confusion, banging his bad fist down on the countertop, and he immediately regretted it as pain shot through his arm.

Kidd let out a sigh over the matter of his 'friend' and decided to focus more on the cowboy.

What was his deal, just barging in and somehow knowing about a secret connection between Michael and Joker? Kidd didn't doubt the man, but he had to wonder how the completely different people were related; an innocent 6 or something-year-old boy and a middle-aged underworld broker. No matter though, really, because Kidd was pretty sure he would've been involved with Joker through the entire 'Law' incident anyway.

So all he needed was.. well, Kidd decided that maybe having Ace around would be sort of nice. While Kidd and Killer went out to do the dirty work, Ace could stay with Michael and maybe teach him stuff, keep him busy... but most importantly, safe.

Keeping Michael safe was the key, because who knew what Joker was up to.

Splashing his face with cold water, Kidd stood up and let the water run off his skin and blinked at himself in the mirror, not used to his normal skin-colored lips. He smirked. Would Michael notice the change? Maybe, maybe not; time would tell. So Kidd walked back out to Michael's bedroom to find Killer and Ace had appeared and were talking with the curly-haired kid; and... drawing on the walls with him.

It seemed to Kidd that everyone forgot that it was _his _building that _he _had somewhat-honestly earned!

"Hey. Where've you been?" Killer asked as he looked from behind his bangs; he didn't want Ace to see his face up close... too many people had seen his eyes already over the course of just a few days. It was... freaking him out a bit. Ace leaned back and tilted his head to look at Kidd upside-downly and smirked, holding onto the brim of his hat as usual.

Kidd growled..

Just because Ace could come in handy doesn't mean that Kidd wasn't annoyed with the man.

"How old'r you?" Kidd asked Ace, rubbing a hand over his wet face and through his hair. Ace shot Kidd a raised eyebrow.

"Twenty-one...?"

"Oh really? You sure you ain't lying?"

"Pretty damn sure, Mr. Doubtful," Ace replied with a laugh, leaning back to continue his crayon wall-mural of a burning building...

Great.

Kidd scowled and smacked his forehead in annoyance. How was this guy so.. scary but so immature?

And how in the hell could he possibly be the same age?! Killer was still kind of upset yet proud of being older than everyone so far. Law was just a year younger at something like 25.. but whatever. Numbers don't lie.. _But the people who write the numbers do_.

"So.. what do you want to do for me, 'Mister' Ace?" Kidd asked with sarcasm, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Ace leaned backwards, letting his hat fall off his head. He blinked at Kidd and smirked.

"Watch your tone or I'll make your hair really red and blazing," Ace taunted, slightly serious, and then coughed awkwardly. "I would be willing to keep lil' pipsqueak here under my care while you go take care of what you need to do."

"Like you'd take care of Michael and not burn this whole side of town down, too? Sounds like a great deal to me other than the big 'I don't know you' problem. Plus, what's in it for you?"

There was a short moment of tense silence and thought.

"Welp," Ace stood up and walked over to the nearest window, opening it up, "if you don't need me, I'll just be on my way-"

"No, wait!"

"Hmm?"

"Ace," Killer warned, pointing a finger down to the floor next to him, and Ace sat back down again pouting. Maybe he really just wanted to jump out a 4th-story window..? Killer stared at Ace and then looked down at Michael who was still silently sitting next to him. Drawing on the wall would obviously become a hobby.. Taking interest, Killer leaned forward and looked at what the boy was drawing.

Behind the picture of Kidd and Killer he had drawn he was drawing the red-brick buildings that he loved so much and the black lamp-posts along the cracked roads. Michael didn't notice that soon the three adults were all standing around and beside him, watching him draw. Kidd wasn't so mad about his defiled-walls anymore. Ace blinked amusedly at Michael's work and pushed his orange hat onto the boy's head, making Michael flail for a second and then turn back around to look up at Ace.

"Kinda heavy.." Michael mumbled, pulling the sides of the hat down and then letting them pop back up again. Ace smirked and bent down one knee in front of Michael who looked up at him from under the hat.

"Better get used to heavy stuff, Michael, 'cause we need to get some muscle on those bones," Ace told Michael with a wink that made Michael uneasy.

"What do you mean by that.." Kidd asked, narrowing his eyes down at Ace.

" 't means that you're gonna have to raise the kid to be a fighter," Ace said nonchalantly. Killer's eye twitched in slightannoyance. Ace, Kidd and Michael blinked up at Killer as if asking for permission.

"...Fine. He'll need it."

The other three sighed in relief, as they had feared some sort of bloody rebellion to the decision.

"I still can't believe that you guys of all people picked up this little munchkin.. and how long are you planning-"

Kidd caught Ace in a headlock and silently dragged him out into the hallway and down into another abandoned apartment, closing the door behind him.

"Shut the fuck up! Don't say that shit around him!" Kidd hissed into Ace's ear. Ace merely smirked at Kidd's sensitivity and surprising compassion for the Michael. Looks can be deceiving indeed.. but that doesn't matter when the person has you in a painful headlock. Ace stuck out his tongue and elbowed Kidd where a man should never be elbowed. He lept up to lean casually against the closed door as Kidd momentarily cursed every_thing_ that moved..especially the _thing_ right in front of him.

"Still haven't answered my question, Mr. Kidd."

"Well.. "

"Well?" Ace pressed on, crossing his arms.

"Well, I don't know," Killer told Michael who stood on the blonde's feet while peeking out the bedroom window at the blue sky. Michael pouted and crossed his arms.

"Kidd has to be here somewhere, though.."

"He wouldn't just leave like that with Cowboy-san if it wasn't important, Michael."

Michael leaned back into Killer and pouted, looking up Killer's chest. Kidd never really seemed to be around as much as Killer did, and Michael really really liked Killer, but.. he couldn't like Kidd as much if Kidd wasn't around! Michael didn't want to not-know his own father. If he didn't know the guy who took him in and supposedly cared for him, how could Kidd be a trustworthy dad?

"Hey Killer?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm gonna grow up to be a big, strong guy like you, right?"

"'Course you are, Michael. You'll get there one way or another.. as long as you stay with us."

Michael nodded his head happily and hugged Killer's leg tightly. He was so happy to have loving, protective parents.

...

"I'll keep him here for as long as he wants to stay, and I'll raise him like a real man should be raised, ya hear?"

Kidd had Ace in another headlock as he spoke, confident in his promise.

"Out of all these minutes I've been around you, I don't think I've heard you say the kid's name even once," Ace mumbled with a smirk, silently reaching his hand back around Kidd's back, "Maybe you don't know the poor boy's name? Or is it too sweet for your sour mouth to say?"

"I fuckin' know my kid's name!"

"Then what is it?" Ace smirked and wiggled his fingers..

"Michael, you-"

Ace pulled down Kidd's pants and bit the red-head's forearm amid the squabble, escaping the infuriated-one by scrambling out into the hallway whilst laughing his ass off. Kidd's head almost exploded right then and there and he screeched out at the cowboy, yanking his pants back up as he awkwardly tumbled after the other man.

"ACE!"

Ace turned his head from where he was calmly standing next to Killer and Michael and hummed in response.

"You.. as soon as I get the chance, you're gonna be-"

"Michael, Killer, Mr. _Eustass_, it's been a pleasure to meet you, kind sirs, but I'm afraid I must take my leave," Ace announced quickly, standing back while tipping his hat to them, and then opened the window and jumped out. The family fought for the view out the window.

The only trace of Ace was the quick thuds of his heavy boots as he ran far, far away, laughing a little as he went.

"Well he was nice," Michael said, blinking up at the ceiling.

"I'm still gonna kill 'im," Kidd growled.

"Oh come on, let's just go downstairs and eat something," Killer decided, taking the others' hands in his own as he walked towards the doorway.

"Let go'a me!" Kidd yelped, trying to pull his hand away from Killer's grip, but to no avail, his hand remained where it was. "I-I think I'll eat on my own..."

"A family that eats together stays together, _Eustass_, so we all have to go," Killer reminded, digging his nails into Kidd's hand as 'Dad' grudgingly gave in and went downstairs with 'his' family.

**~ + WOOOOP. To finish it off, here's a word problem for you-**

_"Have you ever watched your shadow as you walked along the street at night and observed how its shape changes as you move? Suppose a man who is 6 feet tallis standing below a lamppost that is 20 feet tall. The man is walking away from the lamppost at a rate of 5 feet per second._

_1\. Who walks that fast?_

_2\. Why do they walk so fast?_

_3\. What are they smuggling?_

_4\. Is this a school-appropriate mathematical word problem?_

_5\. Why are there so many loop-holes for thoughts to get caught in?_

_6\. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS?!_

**Please respond if you so desire. I will reveal the answers at the end of the next chapter XD + ~**


	7. Chapter 7 - Relationships and Forts

**Chapter 7: Relationships and Forts**

The birds twittered..

The light shone bright..

A gun shot went off.

Killer yawned calmly and sat up as Michael clung to his side again..

* * *

"Okay, there you go.." Killer mumbled, pulling down a camo shirt over Michael's damp, clean hair after a shower. Michael shook the access water off his hair and then zipped up his tan shorts.

"Thank you!"

"Mmhm. Alright, no-"

The blonde was interrupted with a loud knocking at Michael's window. Michael froze and turned toward the window and Killer followed his gaze. They both sighed and smirked, as it was only a freckled cowboy taking the hard way in. Ace nodded at the two with a smile and was secretly struggling greatly to keep his hold on the thin windowsill outside.

Killer walked over and opened up the window, grasping Ace by the hand and pulling him up through the window. Ace put a hand to his forehead and wiped the sweat off, sighing in relief.

"It may not look like it, but it's hotter'en hell out there.." Ace gasped as he stood up straight and closed the window behind him. Michael only giggled and ran up to Ace, hugging the man's leg in his usual sign of affection. Ace smiled and put his hat down on top of the kid's head while Killer gave him a questioning glance.

"Why did you..?" Killer started quietly, pointing a finger towards the window. Ace laughed and folded his arms across his bare chest. He looked down at Michael and bit his lip.

"Well.. I'll put it this way; Mr. Kidd probably isn't too enthused that I broke down the apparently new front door, so.. here I am."

Killer looked at Ace and blinked.

"Yeah."

As that was noted, all three turned toward the bedroom door as Kidd began his long, fiery storm up the staircase.

"Down the hall, 5th left, 3 right turns in theres a closet. Hurry up," Killer instructed, pushing Ace out of the appartment and into the hallway. Ace shook his head in confusion and then connected the words to thoughts and darted down the hallway, passing by the staircase with a fuming red-head almost at the top of it. Kidd pulled out his pistol and shot a few rounds at Ace. Ace shot him the finger in response and disappeared from view, laughing.

Michael's eyes went wide at the sound of gunshots, and then he calmed as he heard Ace's laugh echoing down the halls. Killer picked up Michael and placed him on his broad shoulders. He tried not to suffocate the child with his golden locks, though Michael seemed to be trying to teach himself how to braid hair; he was getting there... sort of, in a lopsided way.

"You son of a bitch, you're paying for that damn door!" Kidd barked, skidding around corners to catch up to Ace, who ran for the nearest window instead of the closet. Ace gave a running thumbs-up and then jump-kicked through the window, flying, landing, and rolling on the neighboring building's flat roof. Kidd pulled another handgun from his pocket, cocked, aimed and sent bullets flying at the cowboy as he ran and ducked across the roof, finally leaping into an alley between buildings. Kidd scoffed.

"If he knew how many motherfucking times I've had to get a new fucking front door.." Kidd muttered, dropping his spare handgun to the floor. He just briefly wondered if the gun would fire up at his face, but it didn't. Kidd sighed.

"Alright.. fine. You win this time.." Kidd grumbled to himself as he walked back down the hallway to Michael's room. Now there was a new problem that suddenly occurred to Kidd as he stood right outside the occupied apartment. How was he going to..

"I need a red crayon and a piece of paper," Kidd announced from the doorway, holding open his hand for the desired objects. Michael scrambled down off Killer's back and looked around for a red crayon. The kid found it and grinned, tossing it to his dad. Killer glanced around him.. there was an old book over there, and books always have one or two blank pages at the back of them. Killer stepped over, picked up the book and chucked it at Kidd's unsuspecting face. The book thudded as it hit the floor and Kidd grimaced.

Nevertheless, Kidd picked up the book and scrawled something quickly on the back page. The other two looked on in silent confusion. Grimacing even more at his handwriting, Kidd bent down and put the book on the floor in front of Michael, who gazed at the book in awe. There were squiggly lines and circles on it!

"Can you tell what that says?" Kidd asked Michael, pointing a maroon nail at the first word. Michael squinted at the page for a while, and folded his arms in concentration. Killer stood silently; Kidd bit his lip in concern.

"Sort of..." Michael finally whispered. His face was almost touching the page as if the closeness would help him to read it better. The parents blinked.

"What're the parts that you know?" Kidd went on, sitting down indian-style across from Michael. The child puffed his cheeks for a second and then pointed at the word 'you'.

"You," Michael stated.

"Okaaay.. anything else?" Kidd confirmed, his nearly invisible eyebrows furrowing slightly. Michael scanned the page one more time and then shook his head, locking eyes with Kidd.

"You're sure?"

"Yep!"

Kidd stared at Michael harder.

Michael smiled awkwardly.

"Stoppp, you're making him feel uncomfortable," Killer stated, stepping on Kidd's back till the book and lipstick kissed. Killer took his foot off. Michael picked the book up in amazement and then laughed, looking from the stained book to Kidd's lips. Kidd groaned and rubbed his back.

"You're the flexible one.." Kidd told Killer. Michael, however, was having other ideas.

"What makes your lips so purple?" Michael asked, putting a curious finger on Kidd's lip. Kidd pulled back and blocked his mouth off.

"It's called 'lipstick'.." Kidd grumbled, looking at the floor. Michael blinked and made a connection.

"My mommy wears lipstick!" Michael declared, grinning. Kidd went red... he thought that by 'mommy', Michael meant _him_ and not the biological mother.

"I-I'm not a woman!" Kidd spluttered. Killer put a hand to his mouth and shook with laughter. Michael cocked his head in confusion. Kidd looked at Killer, then at Michael, and then at the ground and realized his fault. So what, right? He'd just, uh, cover that up somehow.

"I.. uh, I just thought I'd let you know," Kidd mumbled, scratching his neck as he looked out the window, "men wear lipstick, too.."

"Well, then.. I wanna be a man like _you_!"

That's when Michael gave his first kiss... to his criminal dad.

Kidd sentenced himself to the corner of shame, all by himself, and he rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand for who knows how long...

Michael sat proudly with maroon lips; a true man indeed.

Killer stood and observed Kidd's mortified face...

Meanwhile, Ace ran away from a few rabid strays, coming up to the front *cough* entranceway *cough* of Kidd's apartment building.

"Sorry muts, no dogs allowed!" Ace yelped, kicking the dogs back to last week till they yelped too and left the vicinity. Ace sighed and looked up at the de-hinged front door that was still laying on the floor. The door really wasn't that bad, unless you minded a foot-sized hole in the middle...

"Makes breaking and entering a whole lot easier," Ace noted with a raised eyebrow, and walked into the building casually, whistling as he went.

* * *

"So the kid can't read much, eh?"

Killer nodded, walking backwards while carrying the front end of a large couch down a third story hallway.

"Why are we doing this again?" Kidd asked from the other end of the couch, and then sneered at Ace and Michael, "and what makes you think you can just get a free ride?!"

Ace shrugged and stretched out on top of the couch with Michael under his arm, "Dunno. But I could get used to this~" Michael was holding onto a stack of sheets and laid on top of four pillows.

"Well don't."

"You're no fun."

"Oh, he knows..."

"Right here!" Michael burst out decisively, pointing to the end of the hallway across from a window. Killer sighed and turned the couch with Kidd and then gently set the furniture down on the floor about eight feet from the window. Michael reached up to Killer who soon set the boy on his shoulders again. Kidd looked at the two from the other side of the couch.

"Don't you like _me_?" Kidd asked half-sarcastically. All three others looked up at him. No one answered since they didn't know who the question was directed to till Michael looked around and pointed a finger to himself. Kidd nodded. Michael puffed his cheeks in thought.

After a few seconds, Michael stuck out his arms toward Kidd. Kidd blinked. Killer took Michael off his shoulders and tossed him to Kidd. Ace watched the kid fly over his head and into Kidd's arms. Kidd caught Michael like a sack of potatoes and then held the boy on his hip like how a mother would hold a baby. Michael might've made this connection, hugging Kidd's side tightly for a minute.

"Now," Kidd said, getting Michael's attention, "you still wanna make your hallway-fort or just cling to me?"

"Fort!"

"Wow, I see how it is.." Kidd replied with _more_ sarcasm as he let Michael down on the floor. Killer tied his hair up and smiled, kicking Ace in the side to try and get him off the couch. Michael laughed as Kidd and Killer both took Ace's limbs and then swung him up and over the sofa.

"I wasn't even doing anything!" Ace protested, climbing pained-ly back to his feet.

"That was the problem!"

After a few minutes of clearing up Michael's vague plans for the fort, Ace was sent to go find a staple gun from somewhere, Killer left to get a sewing kit, and Kidd and Michael were left up on the couch. They silently decided to look out the window at the pretty blue summer's day.

"That cloud looks like a carrot."

"I was thinkin' it looked more like a knife.."

"Nah, it's a carrot."

"Whatever you say.."

Ace and Killer walked back up the stairs together and quietly snuck up to watch the two.

"That one looks like a pie."

"It's just a circle! It could be a whole lot of things!"

"Well, I say it's a pie!"

"The most intelligent conversation I've ever heard you take part in, Eustass," Killer joked, popping up from behind the couch. Michael gasped and then laughed at Kidd's flustered expression.

"Now let's get to making this fort," Ace concluded, holding up his newly acquired staple gun.

* * *

Soon the blanket-hallway-fort was halfway done.

After moving the couch to a side wall, there was a front blanket-wall with a flap door in it, courtesy of some cutting and some sewing, and the ceiling- that was quite.. interesting.

The ceiling was made up of different sheets of.. sheets. They were pretty much like ribbons that were nailed every few feet from the front sheet-wall to the window-wall. Each of the 'ribbons' was a different color for each person; red for Eustass, blue for Michael, yellow for Killer and orange for Ace.

"How come you get a ribbon?" Kidd asked Ace like a grumpy kid. Michael answered him straight-out.

"Ace nii-san is part of our family!" Michael explained willfully. To further prove his point, wrapping his arms around Ace's leg seemed necessary.

"Well thanks, bud."

"Mhm!"

Kidd and Killer rolled their eyes.

"Speaking of _family_.." Ace started, putting a hand down on Michael's head, "you guys wouldn't have happened to see or hear of a guy called 'Luffy', would you?"

Killer made a disgusted face and looked hard-right, laughing awkwardly...

"Aha..ha..we may or may not have scared the sh-..the _begeezus_ out of him and his friend a day or so ago.."

"Really?" Ace asked, getting up close to Killer's eyes, not even really taking in the two-colors. Killer nodded slightly and backed away.

"I can't believe he really got out here," Ace said to himself, punching his hand a few times, "I told him I would be back, that little fu-"

"Luffy?" Michael asked, still holding onto Ace's leg. Ace nodded, feeling interrupted. "Luffy and.. uhh.. Yussap!.. they tried to take me from Killer when we were getting clothes, but then somethin' happened and then they were following us around.. and then they got back here.. and then Kidd scared them away.."

Ace blinked at the kid-logic.

Kidd scratched his head, "So.. which one's Luffy? The black one or the white one?"

"You're so rude."

"But it's a good question, though!"

"Well, the white one."

"Ahhh.. yeah, I might've scared him pretty bad.. they went running down the street and then called the cops on me.."

"_Us_.. I was there too."

"Yeah, us..."

"So why aren't you in jail?" Ace asked outright. Kidd and Killer coughed and made finger-across-neck motions. Ace gaped at them.

"How many did you take out?! There had to have been tons, knowing you guys!"

"Ah, it was a piece of cake. Didn't even know what was comin', really.." Kidd boasted, rubbing his knuckles on his chest. The cowboy wasn't too sure and so he insisted on looking over Kidd's body.

"Ha! What's that, huh? I think that's a bulle-?!"

Kidd clamped his hand over Ace's mouth. Kidd knocked his forehead against Ace's forcefully. He pried Michael off the guy's leg as Ace fell face-first over the back of the couch. Michael gasped.

"HE DIEDDD!?"

"Shut up! He didn't die!" Kidd growled back while Killer was laughing his heart out, "he's just.. taking a nap."

"Oh. He must've been realllly tired to fall asleep even after you hit him!"

"I know, right!.. so.. let's let him sleep- alright?"

"Okay! Let's color on the walls!"

"Killer, go get the crayons, then," Kidd decided with finality, shoving Killer toward the fort's exit. Killer scoffed while he pushed past the sheet-door.

"Why me.. Why don't you go since I went last time?"

Kidd looked down at Michael.. and then back up at Killer.. and then he just shook his head, shooing the blonde away childishly. Killer _tch_ed then 'slammed' the cloth door behind him, dashing back up to Michael's room to retrieve the crayons.

Meanwhile, Michael and Kidd were going through the ABC's like it were a sort of science. Michael was pretty good, but he never could quite remember J,Q, and V.

"H, I, uh...K-"

"Forgot one."

"I...there's not one after I!"

"Yeah there is, think harder."

"Hnnnn... I... Q! I got it!"

Kidd facepalmed.

"Yeah, you remembered something but at the wrong time, kid.. it's J."

"Darn!"

"I..I got the crayons.." Killer burst out, nearly falling through the cloth doorway and into the fort. Kidd stood up and put a hand on Killer's shoulder, taking the crayons from him.

"Yeah, and don't pass out."

"Uh-huh.." Killer whispered, falling over Ace's body on the couch from running too fast down the stairs. He should've gotten the message after the 1st fall...

"Kidd, Kidd! Is there a brown and a green?" Michael asked Kidd, standing on his tip toes to look at the selection in Kidd's hands. Upon seeing a very fine brown and a glorious green, the child took them and ran over to the nearest solid wall, using the green crayon first for wild vertical lines along the moulding of the white wall. Kidd sat next to the other two hooligans on the couch and watched his 'son' create his first masterpiece.. or, at least begin it.

* * *

"Alright! Ace is up, I'm up, and it's 6 o'clock. I'd say it's time for dinner," Killer stated, standing up off the couch. The rest of the 'family' turned toward him and nodded in agreement, and then fought to get out the door first. Michael snaked his way between their legs and got out first, and his happy laughter brought the others back to reality.

"C'mon!" Michael chirped, skipping down the hallway with a blue crayon in hand.

"Michael.. crayon?" Kidd asked, and Michael turned to toss the crayon back to Kidd who tossed it back to Ace who put it back on the ground. Killer sighed, feeling left out of the chain. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he followed the other three down to the first floor for dinner.

When Killer got to the main-kitchen, the others were seated around the kitchen table waiting for food that Killer would undoubtedly make.

"Okayyy.. Michael, what do you want?" Killer asked, putting an apron on over his chest. Michael looked around while he thought about it when Kidd leaned over and whispered something into this ear.

"Steak!"

"Kidd..."

"What?! He's the one that said it!"

"Mr. Kidd, why, I didn't think you'd sink so low as to blame a child for your faults.. but, I'm not objecting to steak."

"Fine, but you're paying for groceries next time then, Ace," Killer retorted, pointing a long finger at the freckled one, who merely shrugged. Kidd grinned and rubbed his hands together. Michael looked around him in confusion.

"So, what's steak?"

* * *

**~ + The answers to last chapters word-problem questions are HERE! **

_1\. That guy._

_2\. He's a smuggler._

_3\. Drugs._

_4\. No._

_5\. Distracting people from the real purpose is fun._

_6\. 'The world may never know!'_

**Hopefully you got at least one question right lol XD HAVE A GUDA-DAY! + ~**


	8. Chapter 8 - Another Merge?

**Chapter 8: Another Merge?**

The four happy family members chowed down on steak- well.. Ace had to constantly help Michael cut, but he still chowed down when he could.

"So," Kidd started in between bites, "you said that you're related to.. uh.."

"Luffy?"

"Yeah, that's the name."

"Yeah, he's my lil' brother," Ace said, shoveling the food in his mouth like crazy. Kidd nearly choked, and Michael gave him an odd look of half-afraid/half-disturbed-ness that made Killer laugh. Ace blinked and slowed his chewing for a moment to look around before continuing as normal.

"I'm sorry that you have to deal with tha-"

"Language.."

"-that... scaredy-cat..?"

"There."

Ace smirked and began cutting more of Michael's food as he went on by saying, "Ah, he's really not the way you talked about him. He's just being nice and making Usopp feel like the braver one for once."

All three of the original family paused to think about that, and they soon had different thoughts about Luffy and Usopp.

"Good guy," Kidd mumbled.

"Brave, too," Killer added.

"Can we meet him again?" Michael asked after a bite. Ace sighed and shrugged in a suddenly dark way.

"I didn't want him coming here after me, but here he is before he's old enough or strong enough to make it. If he's still up and kicking for a while, then sure, we might see him, but who knows?"

The other three paused to think again, and all came to the same conclusion.. roughly.

"Why can't he just live with us?" Michael asked Ace, who gave the boy a slight smile and pat on the shoulder.

"I don't know about th-"

"Michael has a point," Killer interrupted, "we're the worst of the worst- mainly- so if Luffy stays with us, everyone else will stay away, you see? He'd have the most protection under the greatest threat."

Ace crossed his arms and thought about it.. it made sense, what his 'family' was saying. And his family-family needed to be protected... and Ace did feel odd without knowing the state of his idiotic brother. Maybe merging another person into the big family would work.. again.

Kidd frowned.

"Again.. you forget that _I _own-slash-run this place," Kidd reminded, jabbing a fork at the others. Killer and Ace grimaced while Michael chewed quietly on a piece of meat.

"But.." Kidd added, turning attention back to himself and his fork, "you guys have a point."

"Yay! Luffy's coming over!" Michael burst out, nearly smacking Ace and Killer as he threw his hands out in joy.

"Watch where you're wavin' those things.." Ace whispered, taking Michael's arms in his hands to calm the boy down. Michael blinked and put his arms down, but his grin never left his face. Kidd smirked and stood up from his empty plate.

All three looked up at Kidd in curiosity.

"Someone has to go get him, right?" Kidd said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked towards the... door- the door-with-a-hole that he had put back on its hinges. Killer and Ace looked at each other nervously.

"I don't know- you're the scariest of us here.." Killer noted, leaning back in his chair. Michael watched the speakers as they switched.

"Well really, to anyone besides this kid all three of us are equally scary, so I don't think it really matters that I'm the one that goes."

"Hey, I'm his brother! I think I should go!"

Pretty soon all four of the building's inhabitants were on the sunset-lit streets, looking for signs of Luffy. Ace was the only one who really pushed the cause far enough to climb up buildings and look through windows, down alleys, through front doors and in backyard-porches. The sun was going down in a bed of pink and purple clouds, and Michael was almost asleep on Killer's back when they heard two scrambling pairs of footsteps coming out of an alley a ways ahead.

Squinting, Ace could make out the form of a certain straw hat.. next to another person, but that wasn't important. What was important was the fact that Luffy was there, and he had been running out of an alley, which is usually a bit suspicious. So, Ace took a jog down and sent Luffy and Usopp a wave as he turned into the alley and immediately knocked over his brother's pursuer. The guy was out like a light. Not exactly knowing what to do about that, Ace kicked him hard in the leg and turned around to get down to real business...

"Luffy!" Ace bellowed, waving his arms like a maniac before sprinting up to his brother and clenching him in a rib-breaking hug.

"Ehsh!.. You're skwishink me!" Luffy mumbled as his brother let him go with a sheepish smile. Usopp nervously shuffled next to the brothers, and audibly gasped at the sight of Ace's face.. Fire Fist Ace- with Kidd &amp; Killer. Backing away slowly, Usopp bit his lip and disappeared into the shadows down the street.

Luffy looked around for Usopp, turning around probably three times before he saw Kidd and Killer. Horrified, somewhat, Luffy whispered something into Ace's ear with a point toward's the others. Kidd rolled his eyes while Killer smirked, a hand on Michael's head affectionately.

"You're goin' all soft on me, Lu, you know you'd take on Eustass-chan any moment!" Ace prodded, elbowing his brother away from him, "notice that Usopp isn't here...?"

Luffy smirked and fist-bumped his brother and then turned towards the other three, looking confident. He strode up to Kidd and shoved his hand out to the man. Kidd looked down at it and then at Luffy, grabbing the boy's hand in a tight handshake.

"Nice ta meet ya! Oh, I'm gonna kick your ass, by the way," Luffy declared, laughing up at the red-head who merely smirked.

"Glad to hear that you're no pus- I mean.. weakling. Now, we're gonna kidnap you."

"What?"

"Can't just go walking off happily with another kid; it'll make me look bad!," Kidd explained, grabbing Luffy by his waist. He hoisted the boy up over his shoulder and soon the band of five took off towards the apartment building once more.

The next morning, all five people woke up inside Michael's hallway-fort, practically piled on each other with Michael curled up comfortably on top of Luffy's back on the couch.

As the sun rose up into the sky, a stray beam of light flashed directly through a net of limbs to Kidd's eyes, annoying him to no end. He couldn't move very well, considering that Killer and Ace were thrown on top of him. Kidd didn't exactly expect breathing to be all that difficult either, but two grown men's weight directly on top of one's diaphragm wasn't light.

"Fuckin'... get.. offa me!" Kidd burst out, pushing his way through to open air and waking up Ace and Killer in the worst way. The two woke up swinging at their supposed intruder. Kidd managed to escape punches to any sensitive areas.

..That is until Luffy jolted awake and shot a punch dangerously close to crotch.

"Watch it, punk.." Kidd hissed, taking a yawning Luffy, and his neck, into his hands to choke him. He choked the kid, but, Luffy had no reaction and just stared at Kidd with the most confused glare ever. Kidd stopped, then shook a little more; no reaction. Kidd dropped the kid to the ground and ran a hand through his hair, stepping on Killer and Ace as he exited the fort. He waved away the rubber-necked kid from his mind.

"Eustass-chan, where are you going?" Ace asked, rubbing the part in his back where Kidd had stepped on him. Kidd grimaced at Ace's nickname for him.

"Am I the only one who remembers that we have to make money somehow?" Kidd tossed back. Ace and Killer looked at each other and then back to the kids. Luffy blinked and looked around- Michael was somehow still fast asleep beside him. Killer shut his eyes and sighed, getting up to run after Kidd. Ace stayed where he was, unsure of what to do. Luffy gave him a weird look.

"You heard him, Ace. Go with 'em," Luffy told him, rubbing his head, "I'll stay here with Michael." Ace smiled regretfully, leaving his body-guard duty to Luffy for the moment.

"Love you, Lu.. stay safe. Make Michael something for breakfast when he wakes up, okay?"

Luffy gave Ace a thumbs up. Ace saluted and then got up with a groan. Luffy laughed at him while getting up from the couch, "I'll walk down with you guys."

"Alright, get over here and feel special," Ace told him and got down on a knee, "I'm 'late' and we gotta hurry, so get on my back."

Luffy gave him an uncertain look. Ace prodded. Luffy sighed and gave in with a giggle, and soon they were flying down the stairs.

"Ace?"

"Yeah?"

"What does killing someone feel like?"

Ace rounded a corner and continued down the stairs, thinking all the while, "Why d'ya ask?"

"I dunno. I guess it's because you're going to do it right now.." Luffy told him, wrapping his arms around Ace's neck. Ace sighed.

"I try my best not to feel anything. Killing people is tough, and if you think about it too hard, you'll go insane and wind up dead yourself. Kill or be killed out here, Luffy," Ace explained. Luffy rested his head against Ace's neck and thought about it.

"If you live by killing, you hafta get away with it, because the law doesn't give a damn _why_ you kill," Ace went on, landing at the bottom of staircase with a _thump. _In the midst of the pause Luffy lifted his head back off of Ace and looked around, becoming momentarily distracted by the state of the walls.

"They take good care of this place. Not really the destructive or vandalizing sort, I guess," Luffy noted. Ace hummed in response, only thinking of the front door. His mind wandered for a moment before returning to reality.

"Welp, gotta get going. Again, stay safe, and I'll be back soon," Ace told his brother once more, "love you, Lu."

Luffy smiled, "Yep! Love you too. Be careful, and.. maybe only kill bad guys?"

"I'll try," Ace laughed, feeling rather hypocritical at that moment. Soon afterwards, Ace saluted Luffy all official-like and took off down the plain hallway, and after speedily taking another left he disappeared from sight. Luffy listened as the dilapidated door creaked and clicked shut. Luffy remained standing, thinking.. after another moment of thoughtful silence he turned around with a sigh.

"Too many stairs," Luffy groaned, beginning his strenuous trek back up to Michael.

"Damn it Ace, what took you so fucking long?" Kidd barked up at Ace who popped into view while running on the nearest roof. Kidd had obviously already forgotten the whole purpose of the cowboy's presence at that moment.. Ace only laughed while Killer smirked at Kidd's immature forgetfulness.

"I thought maybe you were actually going to do your job as a stay at home-bodyguard," Killer noted with amusement. Ace grinned and opened his mouth to speak but found himself abruptly met with a several-foot crevasse and a wall of brick in the form of the next building. Skidding a little, Ace leapt and caught the concrete edge of the next roof with a strange yawp. Whilst doing this he crashed through a conveniently-placed window with his boots. His heels soon found yet another _fleshy_ obstacle just beyond the window. Cussing and groaning were ushered from all involved parties.

"Dammit, Ace!" Kidd barked again, slapping his hand to his forehead.

"Ahaha, don't get mad at me when I got the first prize!" Ace hollered back, poking his head out of the window. A stray piece of glass from the window fell out and cracked even further upon hitting the alley below. Kidd looked at the glass and then at Ace with a confused look.

"What d'ya mean, 'first'?" Kidd asked him. Ace disappeared inside the building but was soon sighted opening the front-facing window of the apartment and holding up a guy by his neck, to show the other two back in the road. Killer whistled and shot Ace a thumbs-up.

"He looks like a drunk-bum.. He was probly stealin' from these guys," Ace concluded, feeling rather smart. He reached down and fished through the bum's pockets, finding multiple people's wallets and ID's. Ace shook his head with a smirk and quickly pocketed all cash money involved, leaving the rest of the wallets and other stuff laid out neatly on a nearby table-top. Kidd just stared up at the window until Ace came back to it, which he did soon, waiting to ask a question. Finally, upon seeing the return of the cowboy, Kidd asked; "Is he dead?"

Ace then put his finger to the bum's sweaty throat and felt a pulse.. and he felt his own pulse falter and speed up a little, because he knew what that question must've meant "No.."

"Well then, take care of 'im," Kidd instructed, crossing his arms in an annoyed manner, "'Cause I really don't have time to just stand and wait for you."

(So much for his change of heart..)

Killer and Ace both simultaneously rolled their eyes, knowing the red-head had the _exact _same plans for the day as them, which consisted of.. nothing set in stone.

Meanwhile, Ace was having a nerve-rackingly difficult time with deciding to kill the bum he found, so, he made a quick plan to fool Eustass and make Luffy proud. Ace turned around and kicked the side of the couch that happened to be there and made a pretty loud _thud_. To the other two outside, it sounded like Ace had kicked the unconscious bum in the head instead. The dead was 'done'.

The red-head nodded in satisfaction.

"Go on without me if you want, I'll catch up," Ace told Kidd with a nervous tone from the window. Kidd didn't notice the hesitance, and he and Killer were turning away, it dawned on Killer roughly what the cowboy had done. He smirked and said nothing, walking next to Kidd as calmly as ever. The 'cowboy' listened to the click of Killer's heels until they slowly faded away into silence before he relaxed and put Part B. in action.

"O.K. let's see here.." Ace mumbled to himself, snooping around the small apartment. Obviously, the owner(s) were not home, but it was also obviously being lived in currently; good. Sauntering back up to the poor unconscious bum, Ace bent down and ripped the man's shirt off and tore it into long strips of fabric. He bound the man's hands and legs and gagged him, nearly making the bum look like the victim. Then, Ace had a thought (gasp! thoughts!) and decided to leave a note next to the assortment of wallets on the table, saying..

'_Hey. Found this guy here and I took care of him; mainly. Here's what he had in his pockets, and, now call the police? - Ace :) ' _

Ace chuckled at drawing the smiley-face at the end and then pocketed the pen for good luck. He turned and gave the bum a few harsh kicks to the legs to maybe possibly cripple the man. Soon Ace was on his merry way out the window again and following the sound of gunshots to find Kidd and Killer.

"Kidd, Ace found us," Killer said calmly, looking out of the alley they were in. Kidd shrugged, lugging the fresh meat up and over his shoulder after making Killer hold his coat.

The cowboy clambered down a fire escape ladder and then hopped down into the alley with a grin on his face, barely noticing the bloody-baggage being hauled.

"Got us 400 bucks," Ace stated with pride. Kidd put out his bloody hand and fist-bumped Ace.

"Nice."

"Yeah, I thought so, too."

"What did you end up doing with the guy's body?" Killer asked with an amused look on his face, and that whole expression intensified with the 'shh' motion Ace made almost instantly.

"It's a secret!"

Kidd just shook his head with a deep sigh, "I don't even wanna know.." He continued down the alley and the three came out of the shadows in a single-file line, with Kidd in lead and Ace bringing up the back. However, as soon as the 'captain' had gotten much farther ahead of him, Killer stalled and started walking far behind with Ace.

"So..?" Killer asked him quietly, leaning in close to Ace's ear. Kidd had selective hearing sometimes, but it was hard for Killer to keep track of just what he wanted to here. Ace smirked and shrugged.

"Broke his leg, tied him up and left a note," Ace told him, poking the brim of his hat upwards. Killer clapped the 'kid's' back and grinned.

Killer actually liked having Ace around already. He brought all sorts of different emotions and expressions and memories to mind that Kidd wouldn't ever do. Of course Killer thought the exact same about Michael, but Ace and Michael were different because of one reason; the way Ace acted around him made him remember his former happy-go-lucky, smart-self and the reason why his entire life turned for the worst scenario he could come up with just short of a decade before..


	9. Chapter 9 - How It All Began (Part 1)

~ + before i split this into 3 parts, this chapter was 15,000+ words, man.. wrote it all in exactly 24-hours straight hahaha XD + ~

* * *

**Chapter 9: How It All Began (Part One)**

To even begin comparing happy, confident, and strong Ace and present-day Killer, you'd have to go years back in time; back to where it all started..

* * *

"Maria? Maria, where'd you go? I have something for you!"

That's Killer, seven years earlier... with short blonde hair, gentleman-like clothes and _two_ bright and happy blue eyes.

"I'm right here, Zach! In the kitchen!" Maria replied, making dinner on the stove for the both of them in their house that they were renting. Zachary smiled to himself, ran down the stairs and hopped into the kitchen. Maria glanced up at him with a returning smile. As he approached, she reached out an arm to hug him. Zach did so, holding one hand behind his back.

"So?" Maria asked as Zach pushed her long, wavy, brown hair back behind her ear, "what kind of surprise do you have for me?"

Zach took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself, rocking back and forth on his heels and looking up at the ceiling like an awkward grade-schooler to draw out Maria's suspense. She smirked and waited.

Zach coughed into his hand and hung his head low. Maria turned from amused to concerned, and then to completely overwhelmed when Zach got down on one knee and opened a small box in his hand.

"Maria, I know that we're still very young, and that we have years and years ahead of us, but.. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of those years with you. Will you marry me?"

Zach bit his lip, waiting.. he smiled as he heard Maria gasp and tear up. He looked up at her, with her hands already tending to her teary, big blue eyes. Maria nodded and attempted a smile but only ended up crying more. Zach stood and pulled her to his chest, kissing her forehead gently.

"I love you so much, but I hate to see you cry- even if it's because you are happy!" Zach told her with a laugh, and he felt the same laughing feeling coming from his love. "Now, would you like to put on this beautiful ring?"

Maria nodded and laughed, pulling away from Zach's chest to let him slip the _very _beautiful ring onto her finger. She held it up and looked at it in awe, and she couldn't help but hug Zach one more time. She melted into his embrace and loved every prolonged second of it.

Zach was the happiest man alive.

"I love you, Zachary," Maria whispered, rubbing his back. Zach kissed her cheek and smiled.

"I love you too, Maria."

Alas, as happy as Zach and Maria appeared on that day, the time between then and their marriage tore the two apart because of a certain _someone_ that kept stealing Zach's attention away from poor Maria.

...

It started with the couple walking around the edge of their neightborhood, enjoying the nice warm sun and cool fall breeze together. Zach thought that Maria looked beautiful in her new dress that they had bought together; it was the perfect simple and cheery dress for an autumn walk. Zach smiled down at her, feeling happy to be who, where, and how he was.

They were talking about their plans for their future after they got married the next year. Zach would shortly afterwards take over Maria's aging father's business, and would soon be buying the house they were currently renting and would renovate it. Zach wanted to be a father badly, and wanted to have many children. Maria would always smile and kiss Zach, glad to know that he would be a great and responsible father, and a good role model for their children; whatever the number of children they really ended up having. Maria looked up at Zach with a smile as they turned a corner to walk down another block. This is when their lovely fall stroll took a turn for the worst.

A young man jumped out of a dark, long alley ahead of them with a wild look on his face, holding a glinting, sharp knife. Maria nearly shrieked. Zach stepped in front of Maria to protect her, and he stared down his assailant who simply stood there, waiting.. Zach looked the boy over with a grimace, wondering what he should do..

"What do you want?" Zach asked the boy, feeling Maria shaking against his back. He gave her his hand to squeeze in comfort.

The kid looked up at Zach with his wide eyes, and then got a glimpse at Maria, too. He merely grinned in his wild way and took a step closer.

"All I want.. is money. Y'all obviously has some, seein' as how nice and fancy ya'll are lookin' now, so fork it over and I'll be outta your life!" the kid explained, raising his hands in a carefree manner. Maria had already started pulling Zach's wallet out of his back pocket, but Zach put his hand on her hand again to stop her. Zach eyed the knife carefully, weighing his options, and then he studied the boy further.

"Money for what?"

The boy pulled at his worn out clothes and put a shaky hand to his stomach, "Ya sound kinda stupid- are ya blind? Cantcha see th'way I am?"

Zach glanced back at Maria, who seemed to not be taking the whole thing very well. Though that would be a natural reaction for _most_ people.. Zach decided for the both of them, knowing that in a relaxed-state he and Maria would try and help the boy. He was obviously from the streets with either abusive parents, or no parents, and was trying to make a path in his life. He looked malnourished, skinny and bruised, with his dirty hair a mess... And the young teen thought that asking for some food and clothes would turn more people away from him than holding them at knife-point for money.. Zach sighed at the kid's disturbing logic.

"I think you need more than just money," Zach told him, letting go of Maria as he took a step forward. Maria, scared out of her wits but wanting to trust in her fiance, took a step back and waited. Zach smiled even though the boy took a step backwards, trying to hold out his knife like he was really the brave one.

Zach bent down and held out his hand in a friendly way that the kid saw as a threat of being kidnapped, or hurt, or another betrayal.. the young one took a quick step forward and managed to stab the blonde in the eye.

Maria screamed and put a hand to her mouth, running up to Zach whilst repeating his name. She gasped as she saw him still smiling, except with a hand to his torn up eye-socket.

The kid reeled back and looked just as frightened as Maria was, and he looked around him rapidly at the people and neighbors who seemed to gravitate out of their houses and towards them because of the screams.

"Kid.." Zach mumbled shakily, ever smiling and still feeling the pain pulsing and blood dripping down his face, "this isn't the end."

The boy stared at Zach and then at the man's hand, and at the river blood. He felt..weird, like he was maybe wrong about the blonde wanting to hurt him. So, having no air left to say any words back to Zach, he only gulped. Thought swarmed his mind. The boy turned and shook his head, running frantically back through the alley he had come from.

Once he got far enough from the sirens that started blaring back where Zach and Maria were, the emotions got the better of his stomach- the kid bent over and threw up.

Meanwhile, as Zach was loaded up into an ambulance, he squeezed Maria's hand with a smirk and he laughed. "I sure killed the nice day, didn't I?"

Two months later..

Maria stood anxiously next to Zach's hospital bed where he lay after having an eye-transplant surgery. His eyes were covered with bandages, but Zach held Maria's hand and smiled in her general direction as she waited to see what kind of eye he had chosen, and/or been given.

The doctor and several nurses soon came up to the two of them with smiles, and made a bit of small talk before discussing what all he would have to do to properly recover from the surgery. Zach and Maria both nodded in unison at the instructions, and were both nervous about what each other would think about the new eye.

The doctor stepped to Zach's bed and helped him sit up, and then began unwrapping his head slowly. When the last shroud of cloth was pulled off and away from his head, Zach opened both his eyes slowly and looked up at Maria. He wasn't sure what emotion to expect on her face.

Maria seemed to be have an awkward time deciding what she thought. He smiled up at her and sat there, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. She smiled with a sigh after a while, shaking her head. Zach nodded slowly, understanding..

"It's.. oddly charming," she told him, kissing his cheek. Zach closed his eyes again for a minute.

"You still love me though, right?" he asked her, half-joking and half-seriously. She laughed and hit his shoulder, grinning down at him.

"Of course!"

The doctor looked back at the nurses and smiled, and he was soon given a hand-mirror that he offered for Zach to look at himself in. Zach looked up at the mirror, at the doctor. Zach then smiled and carefully took the mirror into his own hands. He turned it around and looked back at himself; his beautiful pair of blue eyes were gone, but now he had a charmingly deep and mysterious black one beside his light and inviting blue one. He nodded in satisfaction, handing the mirror back to the doctor who took it and passed it back to a nurse.

"I'm glad that you like the choice."

"Me too," Zach agreed, laughing. Maria sighed and shook her head jokingly at him.

"This'll take a while to get used to.."

...

Yes, the whole eye-thing was taking a while to get used to for Maria. But a month later, finally, she set aside her fears and annoyances and completely entrusted herself to Zach. And again, a 'yes' to your thoughts- in nine months Zach would get to be a dad like he had been longing to be.

From that day on, Zach wore a smile everyday and walked around town with Maria like she was the queen of the universe. He purchased every shop item that she complimented or even briefly praised. Maria smiled every time and couldn't help but feel a little _too_ pampered, even though she knew how important she was to Zach. Eventually, when their house was becoming 90% Maria-things and 10% Zach-things, the mother-to-be switched to admiring from afar and inside of her head.

One day in mid-December, Zach was walking back home in the cold from getting a few groceries from a nearby corner store, and noticed that it was the same sidewalk he had been walking down three months ago.. when he met the kid, and when he lost his eye because of it. He couldn't help but smile a little and put his free hand up to his black eye, remembering what he had told Maria when being lifted into the ambulance.

He really had killed that day- for the both of them.

No matter, though- he had a seemingly infinite amount of days with her ahead of him to make up for that one. Zach grinned as he came up to the alley, and somehow wasn't surprised when the same boy jumped out at him- but with a _gun_ this time. Zach stopped calmly, lifted his hands in surrender and laughed, noticing that the boy recognized him.. and the kid realized that Zach had a new eye because of him. The boy let his hands go slack by his side and he took a step up to Zach when he realized that nothing was threatening about him still.

"Ya relly came back.." the boy mumbled, looking up at Zach's new eye in awe. Zach nodded and grinned again, letting his arms slip down to his sides, too. His arms made a little _swish _noise rubbing against his jacket.

"I told you that wasn't the end of it," Zach reminded him, putting his free hand in his jacket pocket casually. The boy looked the same, mainly, except a little more beat up and skinny.. and with no coat. That wasn't what the blond wanted to see; not at all.

"Do you still want to take me up on my offer?" Zach asked him, reaching out his hand again; slowly this time. The kid still looked him over a million times, like the last encounter, but stepped forward and slapped his hand as a more manly form of grabbing his hand. Zach smiled at him and retracted his hand as the boy did.

"Yea, I guess.. but what's in't fer.. for _you_?" the teen asked him, trying to get his speech right to sound like a question. Zach just looked down at him with a pitying smile and sighed, knowing full well what was in it for him. He watched his breath roll away on the air..

"I'd feel like a better person, knowing that you're living easier," Zach told him. The kid gave him a questioning glare that Zach couldn't respond to easily. In any case, the boy knew that the man was nice, he was willing to get himself stabbed in the eye, and had a weird form of logic that he couldn't understand- maybe he had some mind-problems?

The boy looked at the ground in an awkward silence and blushed a little, putting his gun in the waistband of his pants. Zach watched him do so.. but the boy quickly looked up and around him; it was a cold mid-afternoon, and the streets only had a few people lingering outside, so the kid put a bony finger to his lips and winked in a dark way. Zach blinked and watched the boy pull out the gun again and point it at his abdomen as he turned and bent Zach's arm behind his back.

The boy's hand was freezing.. and had Zach's arm in a death-grip, like it was natural thing to do.

"_Walk_," the boy told him harshly, forcing Zach into the dark, cold alley with the gun still pointed at Zach's side. Zach smirked and did as commanded, walking down the alley till it met with another perpendicular one. The kid turned him to the left and pushed Zach chest-first into the cold brick wall before letting him go and stepping away, returning the gun back to his waistband. Zach stood there for a second before turning around. He smirked down at the boy who must have been two whole feet shorter than him. If the kid really did turn violent, with Maria not there, Zach would be able to take him down bare-handed.

It was a.. _secret_ talent.

"So, I can see that you want to establish a reputation?" Zach told the boy, setting the plastic bag of groceries down on the ground next to him before sitting down on the dirt-floor of the alley. The boy blinked down at him, which soon told Zach that the kid didn't have very much formal schooling, at least regarding vocabulary. Zach sighed and told him in simpler terms.

"You want people to think that you're scary?" Zach asked him. The teen nodded with a serious look, shivering a little.

"Yea. Then I won't hafta kill 'em, if they just hand over money from seein' me," the boy responded whilst crossing his arms, letting himself sink down to the ground across from Zach. Zach nodded, understanding _that _side of the kid's logic.

"So, would you tell me your name?" Zach asked. The teen looked down the alley and thought about it, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Maybe."

"What do I have to do to for you to tell me?" Zach asked, folding his own covered arms. He felt like he was conversing with a 8 y.o. who thought he was _all that-_ but, he would have to deal with the same things eight years and a few months later anyway, right? The kid cocked his head and debated mentally even more, weighing options and rules.

"Ya- You can't call me't, _ever_," the teen told Zach, looking him dead in the eyes, which still made him shiver a little. Zach raised an eyebrow till the boy intensified his glare. Zach nodded casually.

"Sure. So.. what is it?"

"..Eustass."

There was a short silence as the wind whistled beyond the alleys.

"I can see why you don't like your name, Eustass," Zach teased, licking his lips when felt a smirk appear. Eustass blushed and he soon balled his hands into fists.

"Y'called me't awready, ya fuckin' bastard! Take't back!" Eustass barked, pulling the gun half-way out of his waistband. Zach looked at the gun and then at Eustass' face.. the kid was shaking, not just shivering; no wonder he didn't want to have to kill people when he was freaking out just from threatening it! Zach found it amusing, and saddening at the same time. He might just have to ask some more questions..

"I take it back.. _Eustass_," Zach whispered, preparing for battle with the younger one.

"That's't, motherfucker!"

Eustass pulled the gun out of his pants and aimed at Zach's gut unintelligent-like and fired, only to have it jam. As it backfired, Eustass nearly yelped in surprise. Zach grinned and got up. Eustass cussed at the weapon and went wide-eyed looking up at Zach, who seemed to be looming over him almost like a dead tree- almost.

"Fuck.." Eustass cussed, chucking the weapon wildly up at Zach who saw it coming and ducked, hearing the clink of metal against brick behind him. Eustass reeled back and cursed even more as Zach bent and grabbed him by the bare ankle. He lifted Eustass up and off the ground, making his head and brown hair swing a foot off the ground. Zach just laughed at him.

"So- _Eustass- _if you don't like your name, what should I call you?"

"Yur a bastard.. I really dun care now.." Eustass decided, folding his arms across his chest to avoid them dragging on the ground, and to keep his ratty shirt covering his stomach. Zach laughed some more and leaned against the wall behind him, right over the pistol. The blond thought about it for a second, swinging the kid back and forth a little to amuse himself and keep the kid from rebelling.

"How old are you?" Zach asked, looking down at Eustass, who grimaced at the question.

"What d'ya care?"

"I'm just curious.."

"15.."

"Really?" Zach asked, going a little bug-eyed at the answer. He wouldn't have guessed fifteen ever!; maybe ten..

Eustass nodded and closed his eyes, "Yea, in one month.. the 10th."

Zach suddenly felt sick to his stomach. This kid.. no, this teenager- looked like he was ten! This guy was so malnourished, and so skinny, that it literally dropped years off of him! Eustass didn't have adequate clothes even back in the fall, and now he didn't have a coat. Or shoes. Or gloves..

"Here, let's go," Zach decided, setting Eustass right-side up on his feet. Eustass shook the blood out of his head and back to his body, shivering like a leaf. Zach raised an eyebrow and took off his coat. He tossed it to Eustass, who looked up at Zach with a weird look before putting it on. It looked like a trench coat on the teen, and he seemed to notice it.. but, _something_ was better than _nothing_.

Zach shook his head with a sigh. Suddenly only a sweatshirt hugged his body. He bent over and picked up Eustass' pistol, thinking about it. He turned around to slam it butt-first harshly against the brick wall. He didn't think it would work at first, but the bullet popped out and crashed into the wall behind him. Eustass went wide-eyed and looked first at Zach, to make sure he didn't take out another eye, and then watched the bullet clink off the wall and on the ground.

"Hm. Awesome," Zach mused, handing the now-dented pistol back to Eustass, which was a surprise to the teen.

"What's wrong with you.." Eustass muttered as he slipped the warm pistol back into his pants, watching Zach turn and pick up the bag of groceries off the ground.

"Ahh... even I don't know, ha!" Zach laughed, clapping Eustass on the back as he then steered the teen out of the alley and back onto the sidewalk.

To anyone else it would've looked very suspicious, but luckily nobody was outside on the street except for a man walking away from them at the other end of the sidewalk. Zach took note and then turned Eustass to the right, away from the other man, and took up a stride that seemed a little fast for Eustass. Zach didn't slow down any, though, because getting the teen moving would make him at least a little bit warmer, even with the jacket draped over his shoulder.

Yes, singular.

Eustass had one arm in the jacket sleeve and the other one out of it, with his non-sleeved side's thumb hooked on the hip of his waistband, waiting to grab his pistol again.

Zach smirked down at Eustass' fashion sense and took his hand off the teen's back, putting it in his jeans pocket.

"So you really don't care what I call you?" Zach asked Eustass, listening to the rustle of the plastic bag in the cold winter breeze. Eustass shivered and shook his head as the only answer. Zach shrugged and pondered on it; he wanted something appropriate for the..

"Kidd."

"Huh?"

"Hey, you even responded to it!" Zach laughed, patting Eustass' back. Eustass gave Zach a weird look while Zach smirked down at him, letting him know he was joking.

"That's what ya-_ you'll_ call me?" Eustass asked seriously, looking up at Zach as they slowed to a halt on the sidewalk. Eustass had lost track of where they were going, but as he looked around, he soon found his apartment building. And why was Zach, a nice looking rich guy, walking casually into the concrete jungle like he knew it inside and out?

"Sure, if you like it," Zach decided, wondering why Eustass really liked it. Eustass shrugged and half-nodded. He really did like it, because it was something other than Eustass, and it was like the infamous shooter of the ol' west.

Not that he admired the Kid or anything... *cough*.

"I'll take it," Eustass told Zach. He was looking up at him with a hint of a smirk making its way onto his face. Zach made the same expression and laughed a little, liking how their relationship was going so far.

"And, uh.. what's yur.. _your _name?" Kidd asked Zach. Zach looked up and down the street, knowing where he would take Kidd for shoes, a coat, and a place to eat warm food.

"..Zach."

"S'not cool like 'Kidd' at all.. oh, but 'Kidd's gonna hafta be with two d's to be dif'rent" Kidd mumbled quietly, puffing his cheeks like a kid would. Zach rolled his eyes and smirked again; he could tell that 'Kidd' just enjoyed conversing with someone, like a normal person, for once. Then, Kidd turned to look up at him again as they continued walking, "But.. how old'r _you_?"

Zach raised an eyebrow and looked down at Kidd, taking his sweet time responding. Kidd looked up at him. "19.. in _two _months. The 1st."

Eustass Kidd's mouth dropped open and he turned to slap the blond in the arm, "Yur not even like, like.. 20 yet?!"

Zach shook his head and watched Kidd go into a fit of confusion, and annoyance, and continue his exclaiming, "But yur SO TALL!"

The wind whistled through the brick buildings and hit them both in the face, making them both shiver a little. Clouds were starting to block out the sun that seemed not to be doing its job with heating very well, and Zach and Kidd both thought simultaneously that it might snow that day. Zach pushed Kidd forward by his shoulder till they got to the end of the block and crossed the street. They then turned right, and took the first left at a dimly-lit, narrow three-foot-wide alley in between buildings, like the one they had first gone into.

"Where'r we goin'?" Kidd asked, feeling weird leading the two through the narrow alley. Zach smirked.

"You'll see."

"Ya'r really bein' creepy.." Kidd told him, shivering a little, even when he was out of the wind. Zach rolled his eyes. He knew he was _seeming _creepy, but he really didn't mean to be.

Suddenly, Kidd got blasted in the face with wind again when they got all the way through the alley and to another street. Kidd looked around and recognized the street, but when he got wheeled to the right and up the nearest flight of concrete stairs to the front door of another brick building, he had no clue where he was at, building-wise. Zach stepped up next to Kidd and knocked on the door. He then stepped back behind Kidd and bit the inside of his cheek while waiting, secretly freezing to death without letting the teen know..

The door then opened and revealed a tan, clean-skinned, short-haired man with piercing-gold eyes.. under black-tinted sunglasses; Law, age 17. He, being so confident, cocky, and determined, had managed to skip freshmen and sophomore years in high school, and had just started college that fall to be a doctor.

Zach had wanted to go to college at the same time as Law, as they were best friends in high school. Unfortunately for Zach's college-life, the whole 'marriage thing' made the blonde decide to be home for a year with Maria, and his coming baby, before heading off to business school.

Law yawned and rubbed his eyes under his glasses, then let his short-sleeved arms drop to lean in the doorway. He grinned at Zach.

"I was hoping you'd be here, seeing as you're going to college now.." Zach told Law, grinning back. Law shrugged and then glanced at the shorter visitor.

"Nice eye, and.. who's this?" Law asked him, pointing down at Kidd who visibly shrunk under the hidden gaze. Zach laughed and patted Kidd's shoulder to try and comfort him a little.

"Eustass Kidd," Zach told Law, and immediately felt a jab to the gut at saying the first name..

"What'd I tell ya?!" Kidd bellowed up at Zach, punching him in the gut one more time for good measure before turning around and crossing his arms in annoyance. He completely ignored the surprised look on Law's face; well.. the raised eyebrows and slight frown, since he couldn't see his eyes. Zach laughed and laughed, and laughed even more at Law's expression.

"Ahh.. it sounds cool, though!" Zach reasoned, nudging Kidd's shoulder. Kidd merely shrugged and shivered a little. Law shook his head with a grin, stood back and let the two into his house, which looked actually (for being in the jungle..) pretty nice. (If you wonder how Law can own a house at the age of 17, his distant aunt and uncle technically owned it, but Law was the only one that lived there.)

"So who're.. _you_, and why'r we here?" Kidd asked Law, who first turned to Zach to see what to say. Zach shot black-haired Law a peace-sign and then an 'O.K.' symbol, all from behind Kidd's back, and Law slowly nodded in comprehension. He soon closed the front door to keep the cold out. Kidd raised an eyebrow and tapped his foot waiting.

"So?" Kidd asked again, sounding annoyed. Law turned back to him and scratched his smooth chin.

"T."

"..That's all?"

"Yep, just T."

"Like.. the letter?"

"Kidd, shut up," Zach told him with a grin, making Law laugh. Kidd put on his usual annoyed face.

"_You _shut up.."

The three then migrated to Law's kitchen where Zach set down his bag of groceries and looked toward Law. Kidd decided to lean against the counter next to Zach, but didn't want to be _too_ close to him. Law watched Kidd struggle inside his nearly-15 y.o. mind for a moment and then looked up to meet Zach's gaze from behind his dark sunglasses. Zach didn't move his own gaze one bit as he pointed a finger down at the stove next to him. Law slowly nodded and turned to open the pantry.

"Kidd, what would you like to eat? Hmm... Something light and easy on the stomach.." Law decided, reaching up to grab something out of the pantry when Kidd interrupted his thought process.

"No, no, I'm starvin'! Somethin' big!" Kidd told him, suddenly looking really eager at the mention of food. Zach laughed at kid-logic and shrugged as Law looked back at him for a definite say in the matter. Law shrugged too.

"Guess I'll give you what you want, then," Law decided, chuckling to himself as he picked boxes off the shelves at random and tossed them back to Zach, who then put the boxes next to the stove like a two-person assembly line. Soon, six boxes of different foods were on the counter, waiting to be prepared by Law.

Kidd stared at the boxes almost excitedly, and then when he found both Zach and 'T.' watching him, he shook his head and quickly changed expressions. Zach and Law looked at each other, down at Kidd, and then at the food.

"Better get going, 'T.'," Zach said with a smile and sat down on the kitchen floor, right then and there, and broke into a grin upon seeing Kidd sit down next to him like a good friend would.

"So.. how d'ya know each other?" Kidd asked softly, looking up at Law especially, "and how old'r.. you, T.?"

Zach looked up at Law, who shrugged and gave Zach full responsibility over telling the tale of Law's overly-smartness. Zach sighed with a smile.

"T.'s 18, in 10 months-"

Kidd's jaw dropped as he looked up at Law's nice 6'2 height.

"- and it all started in my 3rd year of highschool, when T. happened to be in all of my classes. All seven of them. He was so smart that he was able to skip the first two years of highschool, which is amazing.. and then I was _pretty _smart, so I became friends with him. We hung out a lot after school and on the weekends, and we've been friends ever since then. He's now in college to be a doctor, when other 17-year-old's are just now going into the 3rd year of highschool, usually."

Zach finished with a sigh and leaned his head back against the side of the counter. He looked up at Law till the man felt the stare and glanced back down at him. The two smirked at each other. Kidd glanced at T., well, his legs, then over at Zach, and then down at his own hands, hating his life.

"I'm such'n idiot," Kidd mumbled, crossing his arms in Zach's jacket sleeves, "..haven't gone ta school since.. grade 5."

Zach raised an eyebrow and bent over a little to look at Kidd's face as he slowly slumped forward. Kidd shot him a sideways glance and then looked back down at the floor, ignoring the blond. T. sensed an awkward atmosphere and started whistling a tune, wondering if Kidd would be able to get what he was trying to display.

Kidd looked up at T., thinking hard..

"..ya wear yur sunglasses at night?" Kidd asked with a high-pitched tone, to which Zach almost laughed, and T. really did laugh and nodded in agreement, stirring fresh spaghetti noodles into the boiling water. Kidd grinned in a lopsided way and sat back up again with his confidence boosted thanks to T.'s silent riddle. Kidd looked over at Zach to see if he was looking at him, which he was, and Kidd couldn't seem to pull away from that gaze..

"I really do wear them at night, and also.. I have some old clothes you might want.." T. told Kidd, pointing one hand out of the kitchen, "Zach, they're in the bottom drawer, if you'd go with him.."

Zach hummed in approval and stood up, helping Kidd up after him. Kidd felt weird being touched like Zach was doing, but he oddly felt drawn to it, because Zach's hands were warm, unlike his own..

"..Kidd?" Zach asked, leaning over to look at Kidd's face again when the teen absentmindedly clenched his hand in that death-grip again.

"Huh?" Kidd responded.. then it clicked and he stood up straight, letting go of Zach's hand, "uhh.. I.."

"It's okay, now come on!" Zach told him, walking out of the kitchen for Kidd to follow him, which he did shortly afterwards.

And so, Kidd got new/used clothes and shoes, a huge warm meal that he surprisingly didn't vomit from, eating all at once like that, and he had two new friends/nice people who actually did stuff for him. That day was a great one for him.

From then on, Zach kept on making short trips to the eye-stabbing alley, then with Kidd to Law's house, and then with Kidd back to the eye-stabbing alley before going home alone.

Several times, Maria had waited at the front door of their house for him with her arms crossed, wondering why he had taken so long, to which he couldn't lie and told her that he had been 'hanging out' with his assailant, Kidd. She would throw up her arms and walk through the house complaining about her being a pregnant lady who needs protection, but mainly that the kid had _stabbed him in the eye. _Kidd _took out Zach's eye_ and yet, he so carelessly decided to 'hang out' with the teen.

Zach tried to explain to her why he was doing it, being completely calm on the outside but at the same time nervous about it on the inside. He would always fail terribly and end up being banished to the kitchen to make whatever meal of the day was up next. Zach knew that Maria didn't like his decision, but he was hoping that eventually she would see his point and agree with it.

From week two of knowing Kidd and onward, Kidd spent his nights in Law's living room, he and showed up at his house whenever he decided he needed a nice, hot shower from being out in the cold winter air all day. Law was always excepting and invited him in with a smile, because he knew that Zach thought of Kidd as a first son of sorts and was a very important person.

Yes, Kidd was a _very _important kid.


	10. Chapter 10 - How It All Began (Part 2)

**Chapter 10 - How It All Began - (Part Two)**

One Saturday in April at T.'s house, after both Kidd's 15th birthday and Zach's 19th birthday, T. suggested to Zach to take the 'new and improved Kidd' to Maria, to show her what great influence Zach and Law had on Kidd. Maybe _then _she might agree with what he was doing. Zach thought it was a brilliant idea and was soon walking with Kidd quickly to his house to meet Maria.

Zach did something similar to when he knocked on Law's door, except at his own house at 2 P.M.. He was hoping that Maria would first be confused but then be amazed when he told her that it was Kidd, a.k.a the one who stabbed him in the eye. So, after he knocked, he stepped to the side of Kidd and waited..

After a minute, Zach started whistling from the awkward silence, and then after another heart-wrenching moment, Kidd looked up at Zach with concerned eyes.

"I dun- .._don't_ think she's here," Kidd told him, looking back at the door. Zach bit his lip and looked off towards the driveway; her car was there, right in front of his. He looked back at the door and sighed.

"Maybe you're right," Zach mumbled, taking out his house key to open the door. He pushed open the door and peeked his head in.

"Maria? Maria, are you home?" Zach asked, taking a step into his house; no answer. Zach turned back to face Kidd who gave him an uneasy shrug. Zach sighed and decided to let Kidd look around his house for a while.

That decision ended up being a great one as Kidd got to see inside a functioning household with more than one person in it. Kidd was amused at the kitchen, and at the bright living room full of paintings and books. Kidd liked seeing the nursery until Zach ended up grinning like a madman and succeeded in silently scaring Kidd out of the room.

"Aw, I'm not that scary when I'm happy, am I?" Zach laughed, turning to find Kidd, who was holding back laughs from the doorway to his bedroom. Zach laughed even more when the kid just so happened to glance at one of Maria's bras that she had left on the bed from deciding which one to wear that morning. Kidd turned to look up at Zach with his face painted red, and Zach nearly died.

The two ended up sitting in the living room from 2:30 to 3:30, talking for a little while before Zach tried to help Kidd with reading books again. Kidd was for the most part O.K., but the big words got him and he ended up pouting on the far side of the couch. Zach looked at the teen with a pitying smile and shook his head. He closed the book and put it back on his coffee table.

"Maybe.. if we go play football in the backyard for a while, then Maria will come home," Zach told him, which had Kidd looking excitedly at Zach.

"Awesome."

And so, Zach and Kidd exited the house. Zach rummaged through the garage till he found the football and came back out to find Kidd attempting to climb his tree. The blond didn't see why not and leaned against the garage, watching Kidd just in case he slipped. Kidd was doing fairly well with it and made his way up pretty far before stopping and turning around to look down at Zach. Kidd smiled, kind of, and put his hand up in a wave. He then turned back around on the branch and looked out at the neighborhood, full of trees and pointed roofs. Then he turned back around _again_ and looked at the seemingly solid wall of brick 'skyscrapers' with flat roofs that blocked any view of the outskirts of the city.

Kidd couldn't decide which part of town he liked better; he did like the trees in Zach's neighborhood, though..

When Kidd planned to go and face Zach his foot slipped, and soon he was falling out of the tree at what seemed like less than a mile per hour, like when you jump off the high-dive at a pool and seems like 10 minutes before you hit the water. Even though this was way _too_ _much _time for Kidd, it seemed like not nearly _enough _time for Zach to drop the ball and sprint across the yard to catch Kidd, which he did, but... awkwardly.

Kidd ended up knocking Zach in the chest on the way down and felt Zach's arms under his head and knees for a fraction of a second, but then the downward momentum made Zach slip and fall on his back. This then made Kidd's weight hit Zach directly in the diaphragm as he nearly cracked his skull on the ground.

Both males ended up winded and gasping after detaching from each other.

"A...Are ya.. okay?" Kidd asked Zach, sitting on his heels next to Zach who propped himself on his elbows. Zach gulped and nodded, looking quite pale in the face. Kidd watched him nervously, wondering if he had managed to hurt the blond for the second time. Luckily, the older recovered and ended up still playing catch with Kidd. Unfortunately for the both of them, both successfully caught the ball with their face at least once.

After an hour of that, Kidd had a perfect spiral throw, and Zach's right arm was a little tired from throwing; and they both wanted something to drink. So Zach led the way in through the back door and into the kitchen. Zach was hoping he'd hear Maria walking around somewhere, but he didn't and again wondered if she was home. Kidd stood in the kitchen drinking from a cup of water, looking at the kitchen wall clock as Zach went roaming around the house.

"Maria?" Zach asked as he popped his head into each room, getting his hopes up way too far when he looked in the last room in the house to see no Maria. He stepped back out into the hallway and sighed, putting his hands on his hips as he wondered where she could be. He shook his head and walked back to the stairs to go back to the kitchen and grinned again upon passing the nursery.

"So?" Kidd asked the blond as he walked back into the kitchen. Zach shook his head and shrugged, coming to lean back against the counter next to Kidd. Kidd didn't know what to say..

Soon the time was 5:00 P.M. and Maria still hadn't come home, so Zach decided to fix supper and keep Kidd there to eat with him.

Kidd sat on the counter next to the sink, which was a little ways away from the stove, and he kept Zach company by talking and such. Zach had gone silent after a while and just gazed off, daydreaming with a smile that made Kidd's heart ache a little. Kidd figured he was thinking about Maria, and the baby, probably. Kidd then, picking up on this, decided to ask the most relevant question he could think of in that situation. It took a while of thinking but he eventually got it out.

"Um.. when'r you and.. Maria, gettin' married?" he mumbled, rubbing his arm like he was cold. Zach looked up at him with a smile and waited for Kidd to look at his face until he responded, which took a minute.

"In a month and a half, before her belly gets too big for a wedding dress in her size," Zach told him happily, stirring the soup on the stove slowly as he looked up at the ceiling, "and then, in a few more months, there'll be a heavenly little baby crying on my shoulder!"

Kidd smiled a little at seeing Zach so happy and so carefree. He seemed so.. optimistic, when he talked about his future with Maria. Kidd didn't know her well from the first time he saw her, but he could tell that she was a fragile and pretty girl, and that Zach lost an eye protecting her.. from him..

Kidd shut his eyes tightly. He hated himself for taking away a literal part of this great man that was like an older brother or dad to him; because really, Zach seemed way more than four years older than him. This was probably because of Kidd's lack of education, and Zach's already-mature personality that many his age don't have for years later. Kidd respected Zach, and T., for both being that way, and he was.. he was so.. _thankful_ that he had met Zach again that second day. It gave Kidd hope for his own future.

...

At 6 o'clock, Zach finished cooking and sat down to eat with Kidd at his own dining table. It was silent for the most part, with the occasional joke from Zach, or short-but-sweet compliments from Kidd.

Kidd tried to eat in a gentlemanly way like Zach did. He was almost there, but needed a little bit more practice...

Dinner was finished, and Zach saved a large portion in a Tupperware tub for Maria; whenever she got home..

7 o'clock came by, and Zach stood near the front door with Kidd for a few minutes, weighing his options of what to do. The blond didn't want Kidd walking all the way back to Law's when it was his first time in his neighborhood, so Zach took the rough path of being scolded by Maria and trusting his instincts. He opened the front door, made sure he had his keys, and then ushered Kidd out onto the porch as he locked and closed the door behind him. Kidd didn't want to leave.. it was so nice and pretty at Zach's house! Not that T.'s house wasn't nice, but.. Kidd sighed.

The air was getting a little warmer every day as spring was enveloping the area slowly, and Kidd took off his jacket and tied it around his waist like Zach did as he walked to T.'s house. But as Zach and Kidd arrived at the eye-stabbing alley, Kidd felt another overwhelming pang of guilt, and he stopped Zach to turn and face him. Zach blinked and looked down at Kidd, wondering what he would say..

"..I.."

"Sorry to butt-in, but you've known me for.. months now, and you haven't once said my name, _Eustass_," Zach interrupted, poking Kidd's cheek as a smirk spread across his own face. Kidd blushed and groaned a little at the name, not wanting to hurt Zach any more than he had already. Kidd stood there kind of shuffled his feet, opening and closing his mouth.

"Zach.."

It felt weird. Saying 'Zach' was weird to Kidd. It was a whole new sound and feeling on his mouth and tongue, and he liked it a little. He blushed a little more upon finding himself happy, and only snapped out of it when Zach laughed. Kidd looked up at his eyes. The black one..

"Zach, I-! I'm.. so sorry!" Kidd let out, closing his eyes tightly while bowing towards the ground. Zach smiled the pity-smile again and watched Kidd break an internal boundary of feeling guilt.

"I just.. I was so _stupid, _and.. I saw yur hand as a threat, n'then I panicked, and b'fore I knew it, I'd jammed my knife in-.." Kidd broke off, feeling a weird sensation at his eyes.. then, his cheek felt wet, and he tried ignoring it till he started choking up and sounding terrible.

Zach always felt bad seeing people cry, but seeing Kidd cry was something new. He didn't know how to react other than hug him like when Maria cried about something, but.. on the street hugging a kid might look a little weird.. but he couldn't ignore the feeling and did it anyway. Kidd flinched a little upon feeling the hug of Zach's warm body around him, and he tried recovering a little out of embarrassment, only to fail miserably.

"I forgive you.. I get it."

Kidd looked up through his tears at Zach's grin as he looked back down at him. Kidd's lip shivered a little at seeing that one blue eye, and he was off crying like a baby again for a minute or two until Zach picked him up. Kidd again felt terribly embarrassed at being touched and picked up like that, but he clung to Zach's chest anyway and cried a little on his shoulder till he relaxed again.

Zach grinned the entire way to Law's, feeling Kidd become calmer and calmer until he thought maybe Kidd fell asleep on him.

The two came out of the last alley and turned right and up Law's stairs, and Zach was almost feeling sorry to knock and wake up Kidd; soon he realized that Kidd wasn't really _completely_ asleep, because Kidd yawned and tapped his fingers on Zach's back right as he lifted his arm to knock on Law's door.

When Law came to the door and opened it, he almost 'aww-ed' at seeing Kidd clinging to Zach's chest, but closed his mouth when Kidd turned and glared at him. That was the signal for Zach to let him down, which he did. The older two could see the lean muscles that Kidd was starting to get because of the regular meals and sleep each day combined with the exercise he got from his usual shenanigans. Zach grinned and looked up at Law who had his hand on Kidd's shoulder, smirking a little.

"Be good, Kidd, and I'll tell you all about what Maria was doing today when I see you next," Zach told him, fist-bumping the teen before sending T. a wave and turning back around.

Walking home would be boring.. which it was. But he had the ever-optimistic hope of seeing Maria's beautiful face when he walked up those steps and into the house.

Unfortunately, all Zach got upon going up the stairs and into the house was a big jolt from tripping and falling on his face. Maria was not home. It wasn't until 10:30 P.M. that Maria came home, laughing as she came in and closed the door. She turned serious as she saw Zach for once being the one sitting in the 'I've been waiting' chair in the living room. He was leaning his chin on top of his clasped hands, which were set on his knees. Maria instantly put her purse on the table and opened her mouth as she walked into the living room.

"I'm sorry, Zach, I-"

"Maria?" Zach asked calmly, like when he had first popped his head in the house with Kidd at his side, "how are you?"

Maria shut her mouth and looked at him with a confused look. "Fine, it's just, I-"

"What've you been up to?" Zach asked calmly again, getting up and walking to the kitchen to get Maria's meal out of the fridge. She walked behind him and followed to the kitchen, thinking about what he was asking her, in that tone..

"I was just-"

Zach turned from setting the tub on the table and looked at Maria with a pleading look that shut her up immediately.

"Maria.. I've been waiting and worrying about you.. You've never come home this late without me with you, and I thought maybe something happened," Zach told her, holding his arms as he bore his gaze into her eyes. Her eyebrows were knit-together in confusion, and a little bit of guilt, and she opened her mouth to start her story when again she was interrupted by her fiance.

"Just tell me already.." Zach asked her, stepping up to hug her tightly. She didn't hug back at first, and he knew something wasn't right- but he couldn't tell what..

"I went shopping with Georgia for a few hours and then we went to Clare's house from there to show her what Georgia bought," she said softly and straight-forward, slowly putting her arms up on Zach's back. Zach tucked her head under his chin and slowly took a breath, and then slowly exhaled shortly afterward.

It wasn't easy listening to Maria lie.

"What all did Georgia buy..?"

After Maria had told Zach of some items that Georgia bought, Zach knew she was lying, but he didn't say anything and decided to tell her about how Kidd was doing, now that he was eating and sleeping okay. Maria gritted her teeth and bore with it until Zach told her calmly that he had brought Kidd over to meet her. That's when she had pulled away and stared at him like he had been the one lying. Zach smiled sheepishly under her glare and shrugged.

"He's a new kid, Maria! It's amazing to see him with nice clothes, and with some meat on his body for once! His eyes look less wild and he-"

"I can't believe you brought him here! To see _me_?! Zach, he probably would've made me have a heart attack and somehow kill the baby!" Maria started, pointing a finger at Zach's black eye, "he already took a part of us away!"

Zach couldn't believe she had said what she did about the baby.. that hit home for him, because he loved that baby just as much and almost more than Maria, but without even seeing Kidd she had gone and put such a terrible, fiendish, devil-like motive in place of Kidd's real one to say sorry and show her that he changed. It frightened Zach; Maria wasn't like that..

"Have you.. been drinking?" Zach asked her, trying to keep calm about the entire false accusation. He didn't want to get mad..

"No! This is just logic, Zach! I can't believe you thought that bringing him would be a good ide-"

"I just thought.. that maybe seeing him as a better person would change this, this.. this horrendous view that you have of him!" Zach countered gently, walking up with open arms to her. She glared at him wide-eyed and shook her head, walking out of the kitchen to have the blond follow her, pleading..

But Maria would have none of it. They went to bed at different times, and no matter how Zach tried to bring it up, just saying 'Kidd' sent Maria off the deep end. It was no use trying to convince her, or try to bring Kidd back to the house. Zach would always end up tearing up and frustrated at the ends of their fights, and he couldn't take her logic about Kidd anymore. It was odd for Zach, because _he _had been the one hurt by Kidd, and he forgave Kidd, yet Maria was the one who wouldn't forget it.

It was like she was feeling the anger about it in place of Zach, because she thought that he wasn't as smart as she had taken him to be.

So their fights were both insulting to Kidd, _and _to Zach.

And, unfortunately, Maria couldn't have been anymore wrong about Zach being unintelligent, because he was being a kind and admirable person to everyone he talked to. He even kept from pointing out all of the lies that kept increasingly coming out of Maria's mouth to prevent any more relationship damage. It unnerved Zach to no end, but he couldn't bare to ruin their relationship; he didn't want to kill _all_ the days they had ahead of them.

Even so, Zach still visited Kidd for short amounts of time at Law's house, because he wanted to keep an inner promise to Kidd, but didn't talk about Kidd to Maria, because he wanted to keep the promise he had made her when he slipped that ring on her finger when they stood in the kitchen that evening, being as happy as could be.

One day, Maria had been walking down the street from an unknown place, back to her house, when she saw Zach step out of an alley not far from their house. He turned and started talking to someone, and he laughed a little as someone punched his arm. She stopped and stood a little behind the corner house, wanting to see who the other person was, and what they were doing with Zach.

It was only when Zach held out his arms for a hug that the other person stepped out of the shadow and hugged him. Maria narrowed her eyes and kept silent as she watched the boy, the kid, the teen, the 15 year old that was named Eustass 'Kidd' step out and hug Zach. Zach proceeded to fluff the teen's brown hair and they both laughed, though the younger one seemed to have been crying. Zach stepped away and looked down at Kidd, and complimented the younger on how nice his muscles were coming along. He took Kidd's arm in his hand, observing, and gave a thumbs up to the boy, who smiled and shifted a little.

Meanwhile, Maria had taken several mental photos of the two before Zach punched Kidd's arm and said good-bye, waving his two-finger wave at the kid before Kidd disappeared into the dark alley. Zach turned to walk back to his house, wanting but sort of not-wanting to see Maria.

Luckily, and yet unfortunately, Maria was not home when he arrived. But she definitely came home after him and confronted him about Kidd being with him. She accused Zach of having probably been a pedophile and slept with the 'Kidd' the entire time he had been 'helping' him, and she expressed how disgusted she was at his carefree attitude around Kidd.

Zach rubbed his face throughout the completely pointless argument and tried terribly hard not to just explode with hatred for her logic, and he managed to hold it together. However, the next morning, Zach woke up alone.

Their wedding was the next day.

Maria hadn't arrived home that night, and Zach figured that she was at Georgia or Clare's house with pre-marriage jitters. Which.. she wasn't.

Zach had tried calling Maria, to which she didn't answer; he figured it was because they both really preferred talking face-to-face then just hearing voices through a metal rectangle.

Zach got ready for the wedding, and said his thanks to Maria's parents for allowing him to have such a wonderful wife, and then for allowing him to be taking over Maria's father's business in a short while.

Maria's parents said their 'your welcomes', and then thanked Zach for being such a sensible and mature man, and were so ecstatic to have him in their family. Zach teared up right then and there, and then asked if Maria had talked to them that day.

Maria's parents both hadn't seen her in a few days..

Maria didn't come to their wedding.

* * *

~ + bear with me here, people XD show me some love? :D + ~


	11. Chapter 11 - How It All Began (Part 3)

**Chapter 11 - How It All Began - (Part Three)**

Zach counted the days as they went by, agonizingly slow.. It ended up being a full month before Maria wandered home. She was slightly drunk, which already made Zach worried for both her health and, more importantly, the precious baby's well-being; at the time he didn't know that he should've really been worried about himself.

When she walked up the steps and he dropped everything to run to open the door, Zach thought his life with her might restart again- that she felt guilty and had come back for forgiveness; he couldn't have been anymore wrong than that.

When Maria opened her pretty little mouth while looking straight at Zach, the blond thought he would hear 'I'm so sorry, Zach'; all he ended up hearing was his entire life crumbling to pieces upon hearing the cold, hard truth spill out..

Ever since the 10th time that Zach had mentioned 'Kidd', Maria had turned to the assistance of one of her friends, who was said to be studying to become a therapist, for help dealing with Zach's illogical friendship with Kidd. Zach had a hard time comprehending that Maria thought he was.. unstable because of a friendship.

The therapist told Maria that some space between the couple would help. That did help, for a while, until the space that she had between Zach and her ended up being filled with Jack, the therapist. She had told Zach that she liked Jack because his name rhymed with 'Zach'. Jack soon became her lover, and even though she couldn't bare to lie to Zach's face, she knew she couldn't lie about hating Kidd.

Maria told Zach that Kidd had ruined it all, because he took advantage of Zach's stupidity.

But then, as Zach listened to her as calmly as possible, already slowly hating himself more and more by the second, Maria switched the story to point to Zach.

"You were.. gay all along, wearin' those v-neck shirts, and sweater-vests with that.. that hair-do of yours.. and you fell for a kid! Literally, a 'Kidd' who stabbed your eye and consequently taking away your ability to see reality! You're a pedophile.. and I hate you, you...! You _Killer!" _

Zach bit his lip painfully.. although she was drunk, her words had a sharp sting to them.

"You killed that nice fall day, you killed our relationship..! You killed our _marriage_!"

Zach gave up and broke down. For a slightly sober second, Maria felt guilty about what she was saying to him, because she had never seen him, a tall, strong and confident man, crying on the floor near her feet.

He didn't deserve to be told that, and Maria knew it. Zach was a caring, big-hearted man, and Maria knew it. Zach, to that very second, loved Maria from the bottom of his heart, _and Maria knew it. _

And, after everything she had said, she pulled off her engagement ring and dropped it on the floor in front of Zach. He dejectedly looked up at her through watery eyes to see her too tear up a little and state her final closing remark.

"And you know what? I'm not sure I'll even keep 'your precious son', _Killer!" _

That was the last thing Zach would ever heard out of Maria's mouth; _Killer! _

She had insulted Kidd, and Zach, she told Zach that she hated him, and that she might not even bear Zach's pride-and-joy to-be. It all ate away in Zach's head till he went insane from hearing that horrible name she had given him. He had quickly switched his intelligent logic for Maria's, and hated himself all the way to shooting himself in the foot. He was ashamed of himself for not being able to shoot elsewhere.. Zach had cursed his own name when he was in his hospital bed, half-trying to listen to Law's words of wisdom.

"Law.." Zach would just repeat over and over, and then would burst out in tears. Law gave him his hand to squeeze, like Zach would do for Maria.

"Law, I-"

"Stoppp," Law told him abruptly, interrupting Zach's tear-fest. Zach sniffled and clutched Law's hand like a lifeline, which, at that point, Law really was his lifeline. Law took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes under his sunglasses with one hand. He tapped his foot rapidly..

"Zach,-"

"It's 'Killer'.." Zach muttered, sobbing a little. Law crushed his hand till it nearly broke, and Zach winced, letting Law know that he was in the real world.

"_'Killer'_, Zach... Maria wasn't perfect, and she never will be. _You're _not perfect, but before all this sobbing and shooting and going insane, you know, _you were pretty damned close! _You _have to _believe me, and I know that somewhere in you that you do believe me..so why wouldn't you want to be the perfect, kind, happy and confident man that everyone looked up to?"

"Because Maria said-"

"Zach, she loved you _too _much!" Law told him, raising his eyebrows to an impossible height, "she loved you so much that it wasn't even love anymore. She went insane thinking that if you're not holding a grudge against Kidd for stealing the most beautiful part of you, then she would, and did! It was because she couldn't understand your God-like compassion for Kidd that she became non-compatible with you, and she waited too long to tell you that! Can't you see that you're just the wrong puzzle-piece for her?" Law finished gently, holding Zach's hand then in between both of his.

Zach, at that moment, to Law, felt as cold as Kidd first was to Zach. He was almost lifeless-looking, clinging to Law's hand to somehow pull out of the sea of utter despair and darkness that threatened to swallow him in his entirety. It was scaring Law, if he was honest with himself.

"You're cold," Law told him, rubbing Zach's hand quickly, "you feel like Eustass..! Oh, yeah! I bet you kinda forgot that Kidd still needs his best friend, his guardian, his 'older brother'; _his dad. _He once told me that he thought of you as a dad, and it meant a lot to me because I knew it would mean a lot to you when I told you... So are you feeling the obligation yet? Do you 'feel the luuuhve'~?" _(A.N.- 'love')_

Zach laughed a little at the ending bit and nodded his head vigorously, which made Law grin as big as as he did when he saw how happy Kidd was after taking his first shower in ages; and when Zach came over for dinner with Kidd and him; _and_ when Zach was being an awesome person in general.

Zach tugged on Law's hand to get _Law _back to the real world that time, and Law looked down at Zach. He still had that big, goofy grin on his face.

"Funny how we rely on each other like this.." Zach told Law, rubbing his eyes a little, and Law nodded down at him, "but, uh.. Law?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you just.. take off your sunglasses and then tell me the story of why you always keep them on? I know it's like the 30th time, but.."

"Sure."

And so, story time started.

Law took off his sunglasses with his eyelids closed at first, and then kept them closed until Zach pulled on his arm again and laughed. Law laughed too, and he opened his eyes to look down directly into Zach's eyes. Zach just smirked and held the gaze for as long as Law allowed, which ended in being the entire story. Zach could almost tell the story word-for-word with Law if he wanted to, which he didn't think he could without tearing up again.. So Law told it alone.

"When I was 15, and my mother was slowly dying without my knowing, I was sitting on her bed one day and holding her hand, similarly to you and I right now, and she just insisted on making me stare at her eyes. Obviously, to any fifteen year old boy, that would seem absurd, and wouldn't do it for the world, but I could tell that I just had to, and so I did for a while. She smiled up at me and closed her own eyes, her smile turning to a grin.

"She then took a breath and told me, 'Law, I'm so proud of you for being so smart. I know it'll be tough for you, being thrown into Junior year when you should be a fresh-prince of Belair'- I paraphrase that to make you laugh- 'but I know you can do it. You're smart and mature, and I know you'll make friends soon; friends that will last a lifetime. You'll get good grades, and be the best student in the high school, and everyone will be jealous of your good-looks. But, remember to shade those eyes of yours from the ladies; do you know why?' I didn't know, and so I shook my head, and then she told me why; 'Because your eyes are as bright as the sun, and as bright as your mind, and girls are like crows- attracted to all things bright and shiny.' I laughed and laughed, and then she rubbed my hand and grinned up at me, and told me one last thing. 'I love you Law, and I hope heaven's as bright as your eyes...' And then she died.."

Law finished his story and teared up a little, as he had not told the tale for while, and then ended up smirking in embarrassment under Zach's gaze. Zach squeezed Law's hand and Law did the same to Zach. Soon Zach was tapping the beat of 'I Wear My Sunglasses at Night' on the back of Law's hand as Law slipped his shades back on again one-handedly. They soon both burst out laughing out of silence, startling some nearby nurses into staring at them with wide eyes.

"Morning, ladies!" Law called out them, blowing them a kiss that soon had the two nurses blushing and quickly chattering to each other, trying to talk the blush off their cheeks. Law looked down at Zach and then they both laughed again. They didn't stop laughing for a longgg time.

Zach was so thankful to have a friend like Law, and Law felt the same about 'Killer' till the day he died.

From there, on the due date of Zach Jr., Zach went into a similar insanity-spree, which led to Law sitting on Zach's back and holding his arms in a Kidd-like death grip.

"Law! Let me go!" Zach bellowed, wincing as he tried rolling over, only to hit a weird spot on Law's carpet that dug into his ribs; always pleasant. Meanwhile, Law just smirked and shook his head.

"So you can shoot yourself in the _other _foot this time? No way. We're not going there again," Law told him calmly, tapping Zach's hip with his heel. Zach blew out a puff of air and gave up, relaxing his arms to the point where Law let go of them.

It was June 28th, and summer was heavily upon the city, weighing down like a blanket of humidity that never let up. Yes, it was making some people go crazy, and so Zach had at least one logical reason to be insane. Law didn't mind the summer heat at all, and so he never went insane due to that..

The entire reason that Zach was freaking out was because, well, it was _supposed _to be Zach Jr.'s due date, but he had no clue how to find out if Maria had aborted his pride-and-joy, or really went through with the whole thing for some reason. Zach couldn't be sure, but he felt like Maria still loved him, at least a little bit, and might be breast feeding his child right then. It drove him crazy to be so unknowing of everything, and Law could understand that; he wasn't going to let Killer kill his other foot, though.

"You'll probably figure out in a while," Law told him to try and hold him over, but it only made Zach flail and groan again.

"I can barely stand it right now, dumbass!"

Law blinked and tapped Zach's shoulder blade, making the blonde stop squirming to listen to Law.

"Did you just cuss?" Law asked, leaning over more to look at Zach, who went wide-eyed at realizing his crime. He cussed! At Law!

"Oh my gosh.. I did," Zach replied, closing his eyes with a sigh, "I'm sorry."

He didn't hear anything from Law at first, and his eyebrow twitched at waiting for the answer. He opened his eyes and twisted to find Law just sitting on top of him, shaking silently as he held his mouth to keep from laughing. Finally, he let it out and laughed forever, making Zach feel more and more awkward.

"Ahhhh! You're killing me! You're just so adorable!" Law laughed, smacking Zach's shoulder blade for effect. All that Zach did was blush at being called 'adorable' by someone younger than him..

Fortunately for Zach, Maria did still love him enough to bear his child on that very day.

The reason she loved him, you ask?

Jack had ended up not working out- verbally abused her after _finally_ noticing that she was pregnant, and so she left him. Because of this royal mishap of choosing the wrong guy way back when, Maria ended up flocking back to her parents for help. They had told her that they had sold the business to another man, but had given 25% of the money to Zach as a sort of 'sorry for our daughter's mistake! we still love you, though' gift. Zach was honored, and then started crying over the phone when he called to say thank you, so Maria's parents then quickly ended the conversation; all with good feelings, though.

Maria was severely scolded and nearly kicked out of the family, except she had Zach's baby to tend to, and so her parents helped her pay rent for an apartment in the concrete jungle which she ended up living in till she died from self-inflicted drug overdose.

The victims of Maria's terrible decisions, however, lived on.

It took a while, but Kidd accepted the fact that it was hard for Zach to be around him because he kind of caused it all, but it _didn't_ take long for him to switch to calling him 'Killer'; because 'Killer' was almost close to being as awesome as 'Kidd', and they both started with 'K'.

Killer took the money from Maria's father and put most most of it in his bank account, as to not have it stolen as he moved from him and Maria's house into an apartment on the bottom floor of Kidd's former apartment building that he lived in with his parents.. when he was in 5th grade.

You see, the first 'major' crime of Kidd, in Kidd's mind, had to be stabbing Killer in the eye. But, from everyone else's view, the first major crime had to be his murdering of his own parents; or so they said.

His parents had never wanted children, but, well- Kidd happened. When Kidd's parents _still _didn't want to deal with him, they told him that message through both verbal and physical abuse that drove the kid insane. During the very beginning of the Autumn of Kidd's 5th grade, Kidd had had an especially tough week with beatings from his father and hate-talk from his mother, and thenceforth he did what was logical and plotted what he would do the next time it happened.

So, when his father came at him with a belt and his mother behind him screaming, Kidd pulled two handguns from his pants and shot both his parents repeatedly in the head, wanting to make sure that they were gone, which they were. Neighbors had heard both the abuse and then the gun shots, and panicked thinking that the dad had finally put a gun to his boy's head, and so they called the police .

The police came and broke down the door to find Kidd kneeling, in his living room/dining room, between his two, face-down, bloody corpses of parents with a dead look on his face. The two guns lay down at either side of him, right under his hands. He didn't move a muscle as the police came in and just stared endlessly..

It felt so.. good..

The case in court went smoothly. It was obviously self-defense against both his parents which had been abusing him for years, causing slight mental instability, and this fact was backed up by both multiple photos of Kidd's bruises and scars, and some deep cuts, and the neighbors that heard the abuse either once or multiple times; Kidd was a relatively smart kid, and he then knew it.

But, feeling so smart went to his head...

The whole judicial system placed him in the care of the only living relative he had, which was an uncle that he had never met in his life. The uncle seemed nice when he got there to his small house just outside the city, but Kidd knew something was off. Yes, Kidd was right about thinking that maybe, just _maybe, _this uncle was an alcoholic.

The uncle was a great uncle when he wasn't drunk. Unfortunately, he was drunk for probably 70% or more of the time. So when Kidd didn't go to school for a few days, he managed to have his drunken uncle call him in sick each time, and got away with taking a semester's worth of days off in 5th grade, due to the whole trial for the deaths of his parents and then excused time to recover plus the extra accumulated 'sick days' while being with his uncle. And though this was all fine and dandy for Kidd, the abuse slowly started to return to him again..

Nobody knew that Kidd secretly managed to drug a random bottle of beer that was in line to get poured into his uncle's gut and that his uncle actually died in his house. Kidd left with no hesitance, leaving the whole area to go back to the jungle where he was most comfortable, oddly enough.

That way, Kidd had no worries about his uncle drunkenly spending all the money he was to inherit from his late parents at age 18. Even though it wasn't a large sum of money it was the day he dreamt of.. But that great day was just so far away at the time...

And so, for nearly four years after that, Kidd managed to mooch off of different people for different amounts of time, doing some work in exchange for food and a little money, and he even met a kid two years younger than him who had been living that way for a longer time than him. His name was Zoro, or so he said he liked to be called, with one 'r' to be different from the masked swordsman. But Kidd couldn't understand how much taller Zoro was compared to him; it was embarrassing for Kidd, for those few years of occasionally seeing each other. To know that he was older, but, _seemed_ younger and more stupid compared to Zoro was terrible.

Then, when Zach came into his life and started helping, (before Maria ruined it), Kidd began to feel random growing pains that he hadn't felt before and was soon growing like a weed. And after Maria left for good, it took a month around the 'Time of the Shooting' to mentally and emotionally recover, and so Zach didn't really want to see Kidd for fear of panicking. So when Zach came back to Law's one night after the hospital-incident, Kidd had gotten up to get the door depressed and figuring it wasn't '_D__ad'. _But, when he saw that grin and the black and blue eyes, Kidd broke into a fit of crying and laughter that sounded absolutely pitiful.

Zach was happy to be home.

Until Zach moved with Kidd to Kidd's former home, Zach had lived with Law for a time, which neither occupant minded and actually enjoyed thoroughly. Law watched his friend make a lot of changes, physically, to try and become a new person. These changes consisted of starting to grow out his nice golden hair and changing his fashion style dramatically. Kidd didn't like the changes at first, wanting back the Zach who looked like God Himself, or what he imagined God to look like. But after a while, Kidd thought that maybe God could have long hair, too.

As 'Killer' started to work its way into speech, Zach fully let his hair go and only cut it to keep his wavy bangs just long enough to cover his eyes.

Now, that was a bit insulting to both T. and Kidd.

Why would he want to cover his eyes...?

That's because everything went downhill from when Maria saw them and shook her head, trying to let Zach down easily about not liking them. It all started there, because of that eye. Kidd felt terrible; terrible about the entire ordeal he had caused, but made Killer pull back his hair when the three of them were together anyway. That was hard for the blonde to do, emotionally, but he did it for Kidd.

Soon after Zach became Killer, Kidd had tried to come up with some sort of change, too, other than growing at an extremely fast pace. What he came up with after a while was he first bleached his chocolate brown hair and then dyed it bright red; a major contrast to Killer's golden hair.

Law wasn't sure how to feel about Kidd's childish-wanting to change like Zach did, but he did know that he was a little bit disappointed in Zach's lack of self-confidence; even so, he didn't say much for fear of ruining all that he had helped the blond recover from. He preferred a slightly stuck-in-the-past 'Killer' over a dead-from-suicide-Zach. That seemed logical; which it was. However, that didn't mean that Killer always felt like being stuck back _there_ was better than being dead, but he tried- and tried- and tried so hard to overcome it on his own, and when he finally did, he regained a little bit of his old confidence that made 'T.' and Kidd both grin more.

When that happened, Killer decided to take Kidd and move into Kidd's old apartment building, wanting to get another fresh start in a new place, and was glad that he did, because he had the time of his life there. The two still visited Law, because Law was a big piece of both their hearts. Then, as Kidd and Zoro both got older, Kidd soon passed Zoro's height for once. Then as the teen got older and more anxious to get his money when he turned eighteen, he started working up quite the attitude that annoyed Killer to no end, as he himself had started to change his attitude too to challenge Kidd's- adaption.

Soon, Kidd's attitude had him beating people up, and Killer attempted to hold Kidd's thirst for money over by getting a job for a year or so at a shop near to their apartment. However, when people started noticing the return of the Kidd's violence, they lumped Killer in with him. Hearing complaints and arguments from neighbors at the store annoyed him, which annoyed Kidd that Killer was annoyed.

Eventually, Killer's manager pulled him aside and fired him. She didn't want to do it, because Killer was a good person and a good employee, but the people had spoken too many times for her to ignore. Killer understood and took his leave silently. Kidd then punched him in the face upon figuring that out.

It was the first time Kidd had hurt him out of anger since he was fourteen and fifteen; nearly three years earlier. But it was the first time Kidd had hit him with the intent to hurt him.

Killer knew he had failed in being a good dad to Kidd..

If Killer had just stayed the same.. Kidd wouldn't have turned out the way he did- or maybe he would've anyway.

That year, when Kidd turned 17, he started rebelling against Killer as more of a friend than anything else. Killer guessed that his pretend-fatherhood was over..

"Killer, I can't fucking wait for this money!" Kidd had burst out, walking into their apartment one day and slamming the door behind him. Killer sat at the dining room table and whistled a long note that annoyed Kidd. "Are you even listening to me?"

The blond looked up at Kidd and sighed. Kidd grimaced at being looked at by Killer like that.. it was the calm, nice-guy Killer who was slowly starting to smile.

"Other than that, how are you?" Killer asked Kidd, leaning his head on his propped up hand. Kidd _tch_-ed and looked away, hating when Killer did this to him..

"Fine, but I think-"

"What've you been up to all day?" Killer asked him, standing up from the table to go get a can of soda from the refrigerator. Kidd shut his eyes and sighed, running a hand through his red hair as he followed. Killer had done this so many times, calmly interrupting till Eustass finally blurted out something that satisfied Killer's curiosity, and made him feel like a 'good role-model'.

"Listen, you need to-!"

"Eustass, don't do this to me," Killer told him, standing up from looking in the half-full fridge, "T. is coming over soon, and he wants to see you. It's been a few months, since he's really been trying hard to focus on college, and we should both take advantage of being able to see him; someone who I wanted to be like.. Please, just calm down about the whole money-thing?"

Eustass 'Kidd' shut up at hearing his first name said in that unusually serious tone and watched Killer's movements. Killer closed the fridge, and opened the can in his hand, swirling the dark liquid inside till Kidd closed his eyes and turned half-way away, thinking..

"Since it's T., I can't argue with that..." Kidd mumbled, feeling his cheeks get a little hot. Killer smiled up at him and he tapped his nails on the can in happy amusement.

"Good."

Kidd still had something to say to him though, after listening to him.. "You know, hearing you say my name in that tone is aggravating as fuck.. it'd be like if I kept calling you Zach like T. still does to you sometimes."

Killer sighed and crossed one leg over the other, cocking his head towards Kidd; "I know."

Kidd glared at him with his cheeks turning even more red, which made Killer laugh and laugh. The red-head leaned against the kitchen doorway, looking almost down at Killer's head. He blinked. He..

"Damn..." Kidd whispered to himself, suddenly standing straight and walking towards Killer. Killer didn't know what he was going to do, but decided to remain neutral till he did know.

"What?"

Kidd grabbed the can out of Killer's hand and put it on the counter, then turned back to bump chests with the blonde. Killer blinked at him and then noticed what Kidd was getting excited about. Kidd couldn't stand it and pushed back Killer's bangs to look at his eyes, and he grinned like he hadn't ever before; it kind of scared Killer.

"I'm kinda taller'en ya now!" Kidd whispered hurriedly, and he hugged Killer with a crushing force that made Killer laugh from pain, and happiness at being appreciated by kid-like Kidd again.

Kidd just started laughing and wouldn't let Killer go till T. suddenly appeared, leaning in the kitchen doorway till they realized that he was there. Well, actually, Killer noticed first and sent 'T.' a wink, to which Law winked back and waited till the red-head finally saw him. He then pushed away from Killer like he had been kissing him or something.

"When the fuck..?" Kidd mumbled to himself, but he soon turned to grinning again as he walked up to T. and crushed him too, happy to be who he was for the moment.

"Damnit, T., I thought ya'll was 'SO TALL!' then! But.. jus' look at me now!" Kidd told him in his deep man-voice, stepping back and watching T.'s face light up. His bright-like-the-sun eyes would've most likely burned Kidd's retinas if they weren't 'shaded'. Killer watched T. just nod and give him a thumbs up, and then he had an abrupt pang of compassion for Kidd again. Kidd was laughing and grinning and being adorable until he heard a sniffle behind him. He turned around with a suddenly concerned face.

"Killer?"

Killer had started crying a little and he was fighting it with all his might, trying to smile, but he was quickly losing the battle and ended up crying all over the place. Kidd then had to put on _his _pity-smile and give Killer a hug till he could talk a little bit.

"I-I just..! Be short again, would you?!" Killer blurted, laughing a little as Kidd bent down for him. Kidd couldn't believe he was doing what he was doing.. and meanwhile, T. stood back and crossed his arms with a smirk; it was good to see the blonde actually showing some father-like emotions again.

"That's the sensitive Zach I love to see," T. told him, grinning wider when Killer tried to glare at him, only succeeding at looking in pain. Kidd laughed at his expression and he had to pull away to clutch at his gut from laughing so hard. Killer then rubbed his face dry and then sat down abruptly on the ground cross-legged, his hair floating as he went down. Kidd and T. stopped laughing and looked at him. Killer bit his lip as he started blushing furiously, and he patted the ground in front of him as an invitation; the other two both took it and sat down with him, ending up talking about when Kidd was a kid; well.. when they met Kidd who _looked _like a kid.

That was the last time Kidd saw 'T.'.

T. disappeared within the next two weeks, and all Killer told Kidd was that T. probably had a good reason at the time. Kidd didn't know how to feel about T. then, and thought that he might almost hate T., but after thinking on it a for a long time, he just couldn't. Then, Kidd thought he might be feeling a little bit like how Killer was with Maria; was betrayed by T., but still loved T. for what he had done for him.

Killer had made contact with 'T.' a few times, and wasn't in any way or form pleased with what he had ended up doing; Law had gotten rounded up and into the mix with 'Joker' and was unfortunately trapped in a deal with him that he couldn't break without losing his life. Yeah, Killer just about said a million cuss words at Law when he saw him the next time, but the depressed and far off look on Law's face stopped him. Law was forced against his will to give up going to college, to give up his friends, and to give up his life's goal because of Joker.

Zoro had gotten caught trying to save his friend Saga, who was on Joker's hit-list, and ended in losing his eye to Law and watched Saga go down right in front of him. Law felt terrible, and ran away into an alley to go and sob for the millionth time since Joker caught him. He didn't want to keep killing kids.. he wanted to go back to college, and learn how to save people, not kill them..

He didn't want to be so good at acting..

Killer swore to Law that he would kill Joker.

Killer also told Law that day that if they ever met with Kidd he'd have to be a completely different person, to which Law agreed. He used his real name; the name he had hidden from Kidd that entire time. He'd get tattoos, he'd change his style of clothing, wear boots that made him look even taller, and took off his sunglasses to show his eyes; the eyes that Kidd had never seen. He started smoking like a maniac to change his voice. It killed Law to do it, but he couldn't let Kidd know that he had been careless and stupid; he couldn't let him hear about 'T.' and Joker in the same sentence, or else Kidd might feel even more betrayed than he was feeling already.

Kidd couldn't see another role-model down-and-out when he had already lost so much of his life, and lost a part of Zach to Maria that he couldn't get back..

Law first kept his name Trafalgar Law a secret, simply as a joke to keep the nickname theme- then it switched; Law kept his word to hide his identity as 'T.' for the more serious reason.

It took all of Killer's being to just simply watch Kidd blast a few holes through Law's chest. Killer saw his own life with Law flash before his eyes.. and in Law's eyes when he looked up at Kidd.

_"You wouldn't.."_

The voice sounded different..

Law, 'T.', Kidd's second role-model and practically his older brother tried to mentally scream at Kidd at that moment. He would've cried if Kidd had given him the time.

_"I would."_

Bang.

However, the minute that Killer took Michael home that same day, he still had a piece of Law with him, because Law was right when he'd said Zach would find out eventually...

Maria had kept their child, and Michael was that child.


	12. Chapter 12 - Discovery

**Chapter 12: Discovery**

Ace and Killer were walking next to each other, seemingly happy after discussing what Ace had done to the bum in the apartment he had crashed into. Flashes of his past blinked and whirred through the blonde's mind all at once. T. came to mind almost immediately. Killer stopped in the middle of the road abruptly. Ace took a step further and then turned around to walk backwards, watching what Killer was doing.

"Ace," Killer said, standing absolutely still, "you're a good kid..and.. You shouldn't be here."

Ace cocked his head and stopped walking, giving the blond a questioning look, "'Kid?' And what d'ya mean.. It's a little late for that now."

Killer hung his head low, getting his thoughts together, "You need to take Luffy and Michael and go.. change your life, get a job, have a happy family.."

"What's the hold up back there?" Kidd asked as he turned on his heel to face the two. He saw Killer with his head down, and Ace slightly off to the side, watching him. Ace turned to Kidd with a weird look that gave Kidd the chills.

"Somethin's wrong. He keeps on talking and talking," Ace told Kidd as he walked up to him. Kidd dropped the corpse off his shoulder onto the ground with a morbid thud and he bent over to look at Killer's eyes; he almost wished that he hadn't.

They were sad and dead looking. Kidd stepped back, noticing that Killer had switched his rambling for Kidd to hear.

"Eustass.." Killer whispered, staring down at the ground, "there's something I need to tell you.."

Silent tears started rolling down Killer's cheeks, and Kidd had a bad feeling about it; he hadn't seen Killer cry since he had surpassed him and T. in height.. and that wasn't the same kind of emotion as right then.

Kidd pulled Killer by the arm over to a nearby alley, and Ace followed, unsure about standing alone in the middle of the street next to a dead body.. Kidd led them through the alley and then suddenly stopped as it met another one; it was where Killer first came back to Kidd, on that cold December day.. Killer noticed this.

Killer grabbed Kidd's hand. He clenched it tightly, sitting down on his knees where Kidd had sat down so many years ago..

"You.. do you remember.. T.?" Killer asked, gripping Kidd's hand with an iron grip. Kidd was confused. It had been eons since that name came up in their conversations. It took Kidd a moment to get a hold of his mind to answer.

"The fuck do you need to ask me for? Of course, but..?"

"Eustass.. when you shot Law, you shot-.. Kidd, you shot T." Killer explained miserably in front of Kidd. There was a tense silence that overcame the three.

Kidd froze.

He looked down at Killer and just stared, watching Killer- no, _Zach_. Kidd took _Zach_'s shoulders in his hands and he made _Zach_ face him. He pushed _Zach_'s golden hair out of his face and just stared at _Zach_'s emotion-filled eyes and felt a droplet of liquid fall down his own cheek. Kidd just stared there long after Zach had hugged his bare chest.

Kidd started crying, silently, biting his tongue as he shook quietly, and he pulled Zach against him like Michael did to his teddy bear. The two sat in the alley where they had started their life together and began to regret so much they had done.

They both regretted being born. Kidd especially.

"Why... " he asked in an upset tone, making Zach want to bawl even more, "why didn't you tell me.."

"You.. you would've hated T. if I told you that he got caught by Joker.. He was supposed to b-be the strong, smart man you looked up to.. telling you he was weak would've just.. broken your love for him!" Killer said, trying to keep his voice in check. Maybe Killer had been holding the

"I never wanted you to hate 'T.' if he..if something happened to him!" Killer told him finally, hating the silence that was engulfing the whole alley besides his voice.

Ace had retreated to end of the alley to keep watch of the street. Ace was feeling terrible even without knowing what the whole thing was about. Though, he had heard of Kidd taking out Law days before.. but it sounded like Law had been a former friend, if Ace could read their words right.

It was hard for Kidd to take it all in a once..

He was sitting in the first place that he had ever had a conversation with Zach, which didn't help the level of depressive nostalgia. And he was with Zach, which only added to that level, and they were both talking about someone they both loved and had given a part of their heart to; except, not exactly talking about 'T.' like he moved and they missed him. It was more a like a deafening longing to see him simply living again.

Kidd suddenly saw the similarities between T. and Law; the height, the tan skin.. and his calm and collected attitude, and when they met in the street all Law could do was grin- but most of all, it was when Law had offered to wash Killer's bloody shirt that was the most obvious clue after a minute of thinking. Killer had accepted the offer, knowing who Law really was, and it was a silent communication between the two of them that didn't let Kidd in on the secret. Kidd wished he was smarter.. and he was the one wanting to shoot himself in the foot for once.

Eustass felt like... like.. He felt like Maria. However, Zach had been the one who loved them both too much, and the only thing that Kidd could see was Law's eyes..

"_You wouldn't..." _

_"I would." _

...

Just as Kidd couldn't feel anything but his own heartbeat breaking at the thought of murdering his role model/brother, Killer pulled away from Kidd's hug and pressed his forehead against Kidd's. He was still a little teary because of the memories, but he was smiling! How could he possibly be smiling?

"But Eustass.." Killer whispered, "guess why we're lucky.."

"We're no-"

"'T' might still be alive!" Killer whispered again happily, watching the look on Kidd's face change from death-like to mad and ecstatic at the same time- he blinked.

"What.." Kidd muttered, pushing Zach off of him. Kidd flipped Zach's bangs back to further glare at the blonde for making him nearly have a heart attack and die; but he was so happy. He started crying; again- and he crushed Killer against his own chest, again, loving whatever loop-hole God found to save T.

"Zach.. Zach, can we go'n see'm? Please?" Kidd pleaded, sounding like a blubbering baby. Killer nodded and held back whatever chuckle might slip lose.

"Yes, we can go and see T., Kidd."

"Hey," Ace called back to them, folding his arms. Killer didn't notice Ace whatsoever, but Kidd sent him a sideways glare with no response- a silent acknowledgement.

"I really do hate to interrupt all of this, but in case you have forgotten already, we've got kids back at "home" and a dead body right out in the road. You think maybe we should-?"

"Shuddap.." Kidd growled, closing his eyes as he stood up straight. He turned and helped Killer off the ground, who by this point was a tad bit afraid of Kidd and his now angered demeanor. Kidd seemed angry in every aspect- except for the smallest of smirks tugging on a corner of his mouth.

"Move," Kidd told him, which he did- it was the winter day all over. The three then were soon in the road, except Kidd was quickly stepping away from the dead body on the pavement. Ace noticed and looked down at the corpse. He clicked his tongue and took one of his spare lighters out of his pocket, along with a small vile of clear liquid. He emptied the bottle on the guy's body, bent down and set the thing on fire. Without a single glance back, Ace shoved his hands into his pockets and followed the others.

Nothing like the smell of burning bleached-flesh..

"Ace," Kidd tossed over his shoulder. Ace hummed in response. "I'll go and check on Michael."

"And Luffy!" Ace reminded him in annoyance. Kidd didn't respond and ran off towards his own personal apartment building.

He still felt terrible. Why hadn't he realized it was T.? And how could T. possibly still be alive after that?

Kidd shot to kill, usually..

As he ran, he soon found himself getting giddy with excitement at the thought of seeing T., but he had to keep himself in check- what if T. really was dead?

Kidd made a turn down several alleys, knowing all like the back of his hand. He popped out onto a road three blocks from the home stretch, his street, when he heard sirens approaching. His thoughts froze- he didn't know what to do. Suddenly he was scared, which he never was, and he tried to block it out of his busy head. He hurried a little faster to get to the building.

When he got to his street, he was at a full sprint, noticing his lack of coat. When he saw at least six police cars down the street, right in front of the building which was his and his most beloved people's home, he cussed like a sailor and pulled two pistols off the strap on his chest. He stopped and fired multiple rounds into the necks of the remaining cops outside.

He burst through the entranceway and ran to his apartment, stopping dead in his tracks when there were only two men there in the living room. They both went wide-eyed and raised their guns, but they were too late. Kidd shot two bullets and took them both to the floor, searching the rest of his apartment- it was clear.

His heart was pounding as he raced up the flights of steps nearly 4-by-4, hating everyone that agreed to put Michael's room on the top floor; so far away. Yeah, he was supposed to be the indestructible first line of protection, mhmm, but where was he then? He clenched his jaw. When he got to the last flight of stairs, he was met with multiple cops at the top. Kidd brought a pistol up and fired shakily, taking three of the four down as he had missed the last one in his terrified state. The cop met his crazed stare and lifted up his handgun, trying to shoot Kidd in the chest but missed and grazed his thigh. Kidd winced but pushed up the stairs, frightening the cop into dropping his gun when he tried to fire again.

Kidd quickly picked up the gun as more cops filled the hallway around him.

"Fuck.." Kidd muttered to himself as he saw this, and he put his first pistol back in its slot on his chest. He looked at the pitiful cop on the floor next to him. The look on the man's face.. Kidd sighed and only kicked the policeman in the chin.

Ace and Killer both perked at the sound of sirens and the soon to follow loud bangs of gunshots. They had been slowly on their way home, not knowing what else to do. Ace grit his teeth as Killer began sprinting away from him, and soon both men were racing to help Kidd.

Killer rubbed his eyes as he got to the building and saw all of the downed cops there, both unconscious and dead, and he looked up at the open door and prayed to God that Kidd was hanging in up there. Killer gulped and followed Kidd's footsteps, trying not to let the resounding gunshots rattle his brain out of his head. Luckily he knew the only one who shot that many rounds in a row could be Kidd.

Ace got to the building just as Killer was running up to the second floor. After pocketing a few handguns from the kind dead officers he decided to take a different approach. He ran down the side of the building and sprang up, catching the rusty old fire escape ladder. He pulled himself up and continued to scale the building in this way till he got to the top floor, scanning the windows to see which would be closest to Michael's room. He would work his way down to meet the other two thugs and trap the cops in between.

He swung up onto the roof, ran to the corner and dropped over the side of the roof again, looking inside that corner window. It wasn't the window to Michael's room, but he could see the back of two cops through the open doorway, and for a brief second he wondered just how many cops there were inside, because he had seen at least four outside, but then again, there weren't all _that_ many cars that he remembered.

Ace held onto the roof with one hand and nimbly aimed through a large cracked opening in the glass window. He pulled the trigger and shot two bullets into the two cops' necks. The men fell forward and bled all over the floor. Before other cops could come to investigate, Ace re-pocketed the gun and pulled back up onto the roof. He smirked a little bit at his smart plan and went over to the door into the building from off the roof. The lock was already broken, probably through all of Kidd and Killer's previous shenanigans. Ace pulled out another gun and held it up by his chest, like his current enemy would, and he harshly kicked the door open with his boot. The resistance and then sudden smoothness of the motion of the door, and the following yelp and thud, told him that he had the right timing.

Another two cops had been behind the one who was knocked over, and Ace had them both with their hands up within the following seconds.

The cowboy approached the three with his gun first and cautiously handcuffed all three of them together there in that hall with the cops' own handcuffs. He took their stun-guns off their belts and felt proud of himself as he walked away.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Killer had met with Kidd inside and they were back to back, in a draw against three more officers. They could nearly feel each others' heartbeat through each other's back.

"Eustass Kidd," one cop hollered above their heartbeats, "we are going to take you dead or alive, and we have hostages."

Kidd would have rolled his eyes if he didn't already know who the hostages were.

Killer took a breath and closed his eyes for a split second before opening up on the cop nearest to him. Killer got him in the right thigh and left shin, sending the man to the ground while Kidd narrowly missed several bullets to the face.

"The fuck are you doing?!" Kidd bellowed at Killer while he stepped forward and shot the wounded man in the neck, except he missed a few times before successfully getting to that point. He was still shaking as he took out his former persuer right afterwards.

Killer looked at him with that dead expression and just shook his head. Guns weren't his prime weapon.

"I don't want to do this.." Killer told him. Kidd glared down at the blonde incredulously.

"That's obvious, but it's kinda the wrong time to be even telling me that!" Kidd retorted, dropping the gun in his right hand to backhand Killer.

The sound resounded throughout the hallway.

Kidd's face lit up in embarrassment while Killer put his hand to his face. It stung. Killer looked off to the side silently, making Kidd fret and become flustered.

"I just, I'm sorry, but you.. I needed to snap you out of it!" Kidd explained, running a hand through his hair. Killer made a small noise that Kidd couldn't interpret, and amid all the policemen and terror that had flooded their minds, Kidd curiously and cautiously bent down to look at his friend's face.

Killer was grinning.

"..What?" Kidd asked. Killer shook his head and pulled his long hair back into a ponytail.

"What are you doing?!" screeched one of the remaining officers, who though he had his gun raised he looked like he would drop the gun before he pulled the trigger. Killer snickered at the man and took a comfortable position next to Kidd.

"I wonder what Ace is doing.." Killer thought out loud as two unrelated gunshots went off and cracked the two officers in the back of the neck. Killer stopped laughing and was a little mortified for a moment as the cops' blood spilled out while Kidd was dumbfounded.

"Ugh..I think we're safe," Killer told Kidd, brushing past him to check the apartments for the two rascals. They worked their way down through all the apartments on the top floor and met Ace down at the end of the hallway. Killer clapped Ace on the back for his previous heroic act which Kidd would never learn of.

"Are they all down?" Ace asked them, surveying the minimal damage on that side of the building. Killer and Kidd looked at each other.

"I'm not sure," Killer told him. Ace grinned and crossed his arms.

"Oh well. I've got three hostages up there," Ace noted, pointing his thumb at the door he had come from. Kidd facepalmed while Killer silently laughed.

The three stood for a minute, happy with all the silence yet disturbed with the metallic smell of death.

They hadn't found Luffy or Michael yet, which concerned them. They decided to split up and search the lower floors, where they had no luck. Killer was feeling his fatherly instinct kick in and he became worried that maybe the police had already gotten the two and drove away while they were busy shooting. Kidd shook his head and quickly dismissed the unoptimistic thought.

"Well, then..." Ace trailed off, scratching his head under his hat. There was silence as they stood in their kitchen on the bottom floor when suddenly, they heard a racket outside that sounded like raccoons when they tip over trash cans and the like in the middle of the night. Killer perked up like a dog and was soon out the nearest window, in the alley.

The sound really _had_ been the sound of a trashcan being knocked over, as the two beloved boys climbed out of the filth on hands and knees in the alley. The cops had come while Luffy and Michael had been in the kitchen _still _trying to decide what to eat for breakfast. When they heard the megaphone roar for Kidd and Killer to step outside, Luffy had smuggled Michael out the window to hide in the trash can, because why would the police look outside in a trash can? They were gasping for fresh air but were ecstatic when they saw Killer.

Meanwhile, Killer got teary-eyed and literally squealed as he knelt down to hug them to his semi-bloody chest.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Killer bawled, stroking their dirty hair lovingly. Michael hugged his dad's chest while Luffy just kind of stood there laughing. After a moment Ace and Kidd ran out to the alley as well. Ace wiped his forehead in relief and Kidd sighed heavily, leaning against the wall of his building.

"Same.." Kidd mumbled, smiling as he felt the events of the day catch up to him and hit him with a wave of exhaustion. He was drenched in sweat and his face was red. His hair looked disheveled and he didn't even want to know if his lipstick was smeared or not..

"Hey," Ace nudged him, "we should go get all those bodies and pile them all into two cop cars and drive 'em back to their station, you know, doing them a favor?"

Kidd smirked and almost nearly laughed at the idea, "Great. We could keep the rest of the cars, then."

"Ace, Ace, I'll drive another one so we can come home in a clean car!" Luffy offered, escaping Killer's loving death-grip. The brothers laughed and agreed on the plan while Killer picked up Michael and held him like the most precious thing in the world.

"I'm so relieved.." Killer whispered to himself. His heart was still racing from his minutes of panic.

So many thoughts and ideas were jogging in his head at that moment. Firstly he wanted almost more than anything to bring Kidd to T., but the cops would be an issue. They could even hear one of the maimed men moaning in agony in front of the building. Michael looked very scared upon hearing the sounds of a slow death.

"Eustass, those guys need to get to the hospital!" Killer suddenly burst out, putting Michael on the ground. "I have to take them there!"

"Are you retarded?! We can't even take one step into town without getting shot at!" Kidd countered, looking like he could backhand Killer again.

"I don't think it's a smart idea either," the cowboy added. Killer shook his head and looked at the two youngest boys there.. He bit his lip for a moment and then worked up his energy. He got up in Kidd's face and finally **exploded**.

"Kidd, look at these kids! Those _cops _have kids like this, _Eustass_! Do you want even _more _kids like Luffy and Michael to lose their strong dads without even having a body to bury in a casket?!"

The red-head reeled away from Killer and unconciously found himself shaking his head.

"So then I'm going to pack up all these guys into a car and haul them over to where they can be fixed up; _O.K_.?" Killer continued while jabbing a finger into Kidd's chest. Kidd nodded in fear.

Killer nodded in conclusion.

He walked away from the others that he loved and went to survey the cops. Ace decided to follow Killer and sent Kidd a mocking face as they passed. Kidd ran his hand through his hair and exhaled slowly, watching that confrontation replay in his mind.

Kidd hadn't seen Killer like that _ever_ before and he hoped he never would make it happen again.

...

Kidd sorted through the fallen men at the bottom while Ace did the same at the top of the building. When a man was found breathing, the sorter whistled to signal Killer. Killer would then rush to take the man carefully into his arms and down into one of the first floor bathrooms. He would rinse off the wounds and tie lengths of ripped towels around the limb(s). Finally, he would gently place the usually unconcious man into the back of a certain squad car, hoping they'd last the wait..

After Ace sounded out one last whistle, the number of dead cops was ten.

The total number of wounded was eight;  
wounded by gunshot - six.  
wounded by unintentional force - one.  
wounded by non-firearm brutality - one.

The number of uninjured men was two. These two were the ones that stood behind the one that fell down the stairs during the confrontation with Ace at the roof-top staircase.

Ace was the one to go back and talk to the three handcuffed fellows that had managed to stagger their way down the hall from the staircase. The two uninjured ones were practically dragging the one with the broken leg by the cuffs on their wrists. Ace gave them a pitying smirk as he approached.

"Don't freak out, I'm not going to kill you."

The cops didn't relax at all, remaining silent. Ace sighed.

"Look, ten of your pals didn't make it. You've got seven other injured guys, and five are in pretty bad shape."

The looks on the men's faces was the look of pure loss and heartache. This didn't surprise Ace much. After all, these cops had most likely spent at least a few years of companionship with each other at the station. However, Ace's point wasn't to _completely _decimate the guys' spirits.

"My next topic is this; the two of you who are fine will within minutes drive your injured guys immediately to the hospital in your squad cars..with the sirens and all that jazz. The bodies will be taken care of by m-"

"You're not going to lay a finger on our guys' corpses!" one of the roudy unharmed ones blurted out, trying fruitlessly to move forward and kick Ace. This only resulted in cursing and pain from the other affected parties. The cowboy shook his head.

"Let me explain. The bodies will be put respectfully into an SUV and I will drive the vehicle to your station. I will then exit the car and depart from the area. Does this sound clear and good?"

The three sent pained glances at each other and silently agreed that 'yes, that would be alright'. Ace tried to smile for them but couldn't- he wondered why..

"Well.. okay. I'll trust you when you answer here- do any one of you have any concealed weapons?"

The men shook their heads 'no'.

"I need to uncuff you, then. I expect you to cooperate with me or else I will mutilate and burn the bodies of your fallen comrads in retaliation, okay? As soon as these metal torture devices are off you, I need you to do what I have instructed you to do, for the sake of your companions and their families. Now- where's the key?"

The key's location was stated. The key was retrieved and the handcuffs were unlocked. As soon as this happened, Ace asked if he could carry the man with the broken leg. The wounded man grudgingly agreed while the other two watched him carefully. The four men went down the stairs and out to the wounded-cars. Ace put the leg-man in with the other less-critical men and shut the door.

"I wish the best for you and these men," Ace told the drivers as they prepared to get into the cars. The men nodded solemnly. "I also ask one more thing, for the sake of your men."

"Go ahead," the first driver mumbled after a moment. Ace put his hand on the man's shoulder and stared into the windows of his soul with the utmost seriousness.

"Do not allow this to happen again. Do not send more policemen to this building again. The two you're after, believe it or not, kill most of the criminals and lowly gang trouble makers of the town before they get out of the jungle and take their insanity out on innocent bystanders. Notice how all people are afraid of is these two and they don't worry about other no-name criminals? I think it's better that way, don't you? So from this point on, if you wish to let the gangs stay in check, keep Kidd, Killer and me off the radar until we kill someone innocent."

The policeman saw all the logic as it came out, and so he nodded in agreement. Ace patted his shoulder and opened the car door for him.

"Get going, man! Save these guys!" Ace urged them, and within a few moments the two were off and speeding with sirens on.

"Good pep-talk," Kidd told him from the front steps of the building. Killer sat next to him, looking tired but content enough.

Ace had made the deal with Killer to make the uninjured hostages save the wounded so that the risk of losing Killer was way down. Now it was Kidd and Ace's turn to take the bodies to the station. Luffy was pronounced prepared to go along shortly after explaining where the station was.

"Ready to smell like dead people for days?" Kidd questioned Ace before they got into their makeshift squad SUV-hearses. Ace responded appropriately by pretended to throw up. Kidd smirked a little and got into the vehicle, turning it on quickly to roll down the windows. Luffy hopped into a squad car and fired her up, feeling pretty adult-like. The redhead waved to Killer from inside the SUV as the three drove away, and Killer waved back.

There would be no police car street-racing that day..

Killer sighed, feeling alone. That's because he _was _alone. He had escorted a blindfolded Michael to his miraculously unharmed hallway fort before the bodies were moved around. He supposed then that since the bodies were gone there was still tons of blood to clean up. Killer stood up to go inside.

Upon entering the building, Killer had another thought- T. He wanted to see T. oh so badly, but he knew it would be almost a sin to go without Kidd with him. Killer leaned against the hall wall and idly messed with his hair while he debated what he could do.

He decided that he would not go to see T. without Kidd and that Ace and Luffy wouldn't be allowed to come when that happened- but Michael would come. Killer figured it would be good for Michael to meet such an important person. Killer could just imagine the happy look on Michael's face when he met his dads' best friend..

And the look on Kidd's face..

That would be priceless.

* * *

**~ + oiiiii XD lemme know what you think 'bout all this. too mushy? too random? also, if you like Kidd and Killer stories, check out my new story _'Killer's Journal'_! ~ +**


	13. Chapter 13 - T

**Chapter 13: T.**

Killer found himself almost drowning in thoughts while he mopped up all the splotches of blood off the floors. Multiple times he found himself frozen in place, staring dead ahead but not seeing anything. He had to smirk at himself when he 'awoke' from these dazes, always rubbing the back of his head.

Most of the thoughts were just hopes and dreams slightly intertwined with memories.

The blonde was sure Kidd had the exact same thoughts running through his head as he rode home with Ace and Luffy- he was correct.

Kidd was unusually silent and unattentive to the brothers' conversation and preferred to blush and try to hide a smile while imagining T. up and running. He couldn't wait to get home..

As soon as the place he called 'home' came into view, he perked up and grinned almost eerily. Ace, who was sitting next to him in the backseat, became slightly disturbed by this flood of odd emotion from the red-head.

"You alright in there?" Ace asked him, punching him in the shoulder jokingly. Kidd closed his mouth and nodded, laughing through his nose. The other two shook their heads.

...

Kidd burst into the building, immediately smelling bleach and other cleaning agents, but he didn't care. He stood at the bottom of the first flight of stairs and decided to let out some pent up energy.

"HEY ZAAAACHHHHHHH! I'M HOOOMEEE!"

Killer popped his head out of their apartment right next to the stairs with a grin. Kidd turned to him and blushed.

"No need to scream, _Eustass_," Zach told him while stepping into the hallway. Kidd laughed a little and was soon bear-hugging his wanna-be dad till they both almost crushed each other to death. The happiness was overflowing and the brothers certainly did not want to interfere- they decided to hang out on the front porch for the moment.

"So..?" Kidd asked excitedly with no context. Zach blinked at him and put a finger to his mouth, acting as if it were a big decision.

"Well.." he began, only to be interrupted by a maroon-nailed hand to his mouth. Zach laughed.

"We're going! Right now!" Kidd decided for him loudly. Zach nodded happily as Kidd pulled away his hand.

Michael soon appeared from the inside the apartment with a sleepy look on his face, still holding his teddy bear (which still needed to be washed). Kidd waved to him silently. Michael yawned and waved back, walking over to loosely hug his leg.

"Hi Kidd.." Michael mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Hi Michael," Kidd responded softly. He bent down and pet Michael's head affectionately. Zach was a little amazed.

"Would you be up for a trip to see a new friend?" Kidd asked Michael while bending down as close to the child's level as possible. By that point, Michael's eyes were open and alert, and Michael nodded. Anyone who was a friend of Kidd and Killer's was a friend of his!

"Could you go and put bear-chan away quickly and then come back here?" Kidd asked him, to which Michael nodded again and was soon padding away to put his teddy bear on the nearest couch. Within a minute he was back with his parents in the hallway, awaiting further information or instruction.

Before they pulled the locked door closed behind the three of them, Zach leaned against Kidd's side and whispered to him, "I'm proud of you, Eustass.. and I love you."

Kidd looked at Zach a little bit in shock and soon they were hugging and tearing-up again.

Ace and Luffy had stopped talking and were secretly watching the two- and Michael, too.

"I-I love you too!" Kidd burst out, clenching Zach to his chest. Zach rubbed his back soothingly, holding Michael's hand as well.

"You've cried more today than you have in ages, Eustass.. let's continue the love-fest with T., okay?" Zach spoke quietly, feeling Kidd nod in agreement. Kidd let go and rubbed his blushing face, walking past the brothers and to the sidewalk. Zach squeezed Michael's hand and helped him down the stairs, waving to the black-haired boys as they walked away from the porch.

"I believe walking would be soothing," Zach told a still-sniffling Kidd. He nodded whilst walking on the other side of Michael. It only surprised him a little bit when Michael reached up to hold his hand too, and the happy older two ended up swinging the boy between them on their way.

Kidd never once questioned where exactly they were going, because in his mind the location was irrelevant.

Zach laughed as they put Michael back down on the sidewalk one last time before reaching their destination. He came to a building and pushed the door open, poking his head in.

"Anyone home?" he asked. There was a _'mhmm'_ in response, and soon a certain green-haired teen came and further opened the door to welcome the three. Kidd was a little confused at first, just as Zoro was confused to see the three of them holding hands- oh well.

"I suppose you came to see him," Zoro stated with a smirk. They nodded, grinning till they thought their faces would break. The teen laughed and led them to the far side of the coffin warehouse where there was a door to a small room. As they approached the door, Zoro told the three to stay out of sight for a moment while he knocked.

He knocked twice and asked to come in. There was a grunt in response, and Zoro entered the room quietly. He only exchanged a few words when that was enough to get the man off his bed and running outside the room.

The man ran out in pajama pants and bandages, looking scruffy and rough, but as soon as he saw the visitors he squealed in joy and hugged the two men.

"Oh my God! Oh my God, Zach..! Eustass, I-I.. damnit.."

T. started bawling his eyes out while the other two tried to avoid doing the same.

Zoro pulled Michael away for a moment to observe the moment.

Zach decided to have a seat on the floor to be less stressful on T.'s injuries, and the three ended up laying flat on their backs next to each other. A silence came over them, only intensifying the emotions.

"T., I.. I missed ya s'much!" Kidd blurted out, choking back a sob. T. held Kidd's hand against his chest, shaking.

"_I missed you more.." _he whispered in return.

...

After a few minutes of calming silence and settling down, quietly appreciating each other's company, T. finally noticed Michael's presence.

T. sat up straight and rubbed his face. Michael blinked at him curiously. T. blinked back, feeling slightly awkward for some reason, as if he had missed a major sort of something in the few days he was half-way MIA. The boy looked oddly familiar but T. couldn't put his finger on it..

"Who's the little guy?" T. asked outloud to no one in particular. It felt sort of deja vu from when he asked the same thing about Kidd on that winter day.. Zoro smirked as he saw realization spread across the parents' face, noticing they had skipped a vital part of the whole event. Shame, shame.

"Well.. um.. that's Michael," Killer started off, rubbing the back of his head while he sat up. Kidd followed suit within seconds. T. raised an eyebrow and looked back at the boy, deciding to sit up as well.

Killer looked towards Michael, too and reached out his arms. Michael grinned and quickly made his way to his dad's arms, sitting down on his lap. T. further scrunched his eyebrows together.

"He wouldn't be your son, would he?"

Killer blinked. "Well, yeah- adopted/kidnapped, but yeah. How did you know?"

T. rubbed his face with his hands. He was having a hard time discerning who was right and what the facts were in the whole situation. The silence that ensued was nearly deafening. The party could hear a crow cawing outside the warehouse, partially distracting them all from their thoughts. T. certainly needed to ask a multitude of questions when he got the chance to do so, because he was confused beyond belief.

The blonde could read almost read the mental confliction off T.'s face, and before the surgeon could open his mouth, Killer had an answer.

"Let's talk about this in your room."

Zoro gave a questioning glance to the two, but Kidd and T. nodded in agreement, so it was a done deal. The three stood up and moved off to Law's temporary room, leaving Michael with the part-time mortition. Zoro could already tell that both groups would end up having interesting conversations..

* * *

"T."

"Zach."

"..Kidd..?"

"You said your own name so as to not feel left out?" T. joked, laughing till he felt some pain and winced. He settled down with a sheepish smirk on his face while Kidd laughed for him.

"Anyway," T. continued, "who exactly is Michael, and how the hell did you manage to change from a murderers to a guardian-seeming-people in like, 4 days? Where'd Michael even come from? I mean I-"

Killer _shh-_ed him with a smirk and settled back against the wall in front of T.. T. shut up and tapped his fingers, waiting for answers. Meanwhile, Kidd sat next to T. feeling that his questions were rather left out of consideration.

"And how are you alive?" Kidd asked T. frankly. T. only smiled and shook his head. Killer silently decided that he would become the story-teller of the afternoon. He coughed before he began.

"So Kidd, you shot him- but on the wrong side of the flippin' chest-"

"Michael's not in here.." Kidd commented, talking about the cursing..Killer waved the interruption away with a grin because Kidd didn't even realize what had just been said. T. saw the same thing too.

"So, therefore, you're choice to not haul him yourself to Zoro _plus_ my knowledge that he was T.- and that he was still _breathing_\- equaled me instructing Zoro that when he got to T.- you- if you were still alive, that he would carry you back here and try to figure out how to take care of you since I couldn't."

Kidd shook his head in amazement- he was so.. oblivious to it all! How could he have missed all that?

Killer crossed his arms and yawned before he continued. "So, Zoro had previously stated that he was going to pluck out one of those golden sun-like eyes of yours in revenge for you taking his eye in a squabble a year or so ago. I had asked to have one too- on the possibility that you really _were _dead-"

"What's wrong with you?!" T. yelped, finding himself laughing his guts out afterwards. Kidd felt the _exact_ same way.

"That's what I said!" Kidd noted, rolling his eyes. Killer smirked at him.

"I remembered that you had all those formaldehyde filled jars and such in your work apartment so I offered to get two jars with the liquid AND a golden eye already in one of them so if you weren't dead I could fool Kidd; you." Kidd's mouth dropped open. "Hahaha.. umm.. oh yeah, so I set up a random meet-up time for Kidd and I to meet here, after Zoro picked you up from the apartment building, to take the eye and go home together."

T. was a little confused as to why that was. Kidd reciprocated such feelings and explained the same thing.

"I was just pissed at everything and didn't want to deal with any arguing or thinking, really, so I became a yes-man for a minute there," Kidd said bluntly. T. nodded, seeing the almost teenager-like logic.

Killer smirked. "I had planned it that way so Zoro would have time to at least get himself and you together on the chance that you were living before Kidd got the opportunity to see and possibly explode. But here's where Michael comes in-" The two observers listened closer. "-As I was heading back _here _to give Zoro the jars, I heard someone crying. Usually I wouldn't push myself to look for the upset person but the person just so happened to be that little curly-haired boy who was sitting on a step right next to the street I was on. The look on his face... I had to stop.. and so I did. He clung to my leg all of a sudden, and I asked him if he had parents. He shook his head-"

"Zachhh.." T. groaned, facepalming. Zach shrugged.

"So I asked him if he wanted some. He did, obviously, and so I brought him along. Because of that, I sneakily passed over the jars to Zoro without the kid seeing and then we hung out on the roof. We heard Kidd come back and cuss up a storm, which told me I didn't want the kid around _that_. So we waited up there till he left and then we went home. By the way, Kidd- where did you go while you were waiting?"

Kidd rubbed his head, thinking. "I... I went to the alley and just sat there."

Zach and T. nodded solemnly, knowing which alley. But Kidd perked up suddenly, patting Zach's knee excitedly. Zach gave him a weird look.

"But guess what I found!" Kidd asked. Zach looked at T., looked back at Kidd and then shrugged. Kidd fished in his pants' pocket for something, and when he found it he pulled it out in a closed hand. Zach looked at the hand and then up at Kidd. Kidd didn't reveal the item.

"C'mon, just guess!" Kidd told him again. Zach pondered the options of small objects that he could've found that was so amazing.

"I don't know.. hahaha, a cigarette? Money?"

"Hell no!- look!"

Kidd opened his hand to reveal an old bullet, strangely damaged looking with it almost bent in half. Zach didn't make the connection, making Kidd become slightly irrate.

"Damnit, you really don't know?" the red-head asked pleadingly. Zach felt himself blush but he really didn't have any idea at the time.

"It's the bullet that you got to come out of my gun after it jammed!" Kidd told him. Zach pondered for a moment, squinting down at the bullet.. and then it hit him!

"Oh! _That _bullet!" Zach concluded, taking the bullet into his own hand and looking at it carefully. You could've almost seen the floating question marks above T.'s head, but the they decided that it was a story for another time. "I'm surprised it was still there.."

"Yeah, no kidding.. Oh and speaking of bullets, we're running low on ammo 'cause the two raids were so close to each other," Kidd noted. All their faces became rather thoughtful, knowing that bullets were not so easy to come by. Amidst the comtemplation, though, Kidd remembered something.

"Ace said he pulled some tazers off a few cops," Kidd suggested. T. and Killer both shook their heads.

"Remember when you got tazed? It barely did a thing," Killer reminded him. Kidd thought about it, grimacing.

"Yeah, but.. I'm me, so.."

"Always assume that the enemy can withstand what you can," T. said calmly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah- makin' me feel retarded," Kidd fumed, looking away with his arms crossed. The remaining two glanced at each other and smirked.

At that moment, Zoro had been holding his ear to the door to eavesdrop on their conversation while Michael was trying to teach himself how to tie shoelaces; practicing on Zoro's shoes. As the bullet problem was brought up, Zoro began to think as well. He knew more people and things than his two customers bargained for, and they would so come to possibly rely on him some more. That fact somewhat scared Zoro, but.. for some reason he had come to like Kidd and Killer- and now T. Zoro made up his mind and opened the door, poking his head inside.

All three looked up at the coffin-maker, who coughed. He then looked towards Killer, because he was easiest to look in the eye.

"If you need bullets, I might know a guy who can help," Zoro said softly, avoiding Michael's ears catching what he said. Killer raised an eyebrow. Kidd looked suspicious. T. gave a look of approval.

"Yeah, but can we trust this guy?" Kidd asked him with a mean tone, "'Cause no offense, but the last time somethin' like this happened, this guy right here nearly died."

T. smirked.

Zoro nodded his head. "I've known him for a while, and we all would trust him with our lives."

"Who's 'we'?" Killer asked curiously.

Zoro looked down at Michael who had successfully tied all his shoelaces together into a knotted mess. Zoro sighed and swung the door open, hopping into the room to sit down next to Killer on the floor. Michael followed suit quickly and was snatched by Kidd into his lap. Michael grinned while Zoro explained. T. couldn't stop looking at Michael for some reason..

"My friend and I sort of formed this.. this.. alliance of sorts, for odd kids, or people in general, where we could all kind of depend on each other out here in the jungle. This bullet-guy is part of this group, along with several others. But don't think I'm the one who set this thing up, because I'm not."

"Who did form it then?" T. asked.

"A weird kid named Luffy."

"Luffy?" Michael chirped, catching Zoro's attention. Zoro furrowed his brows, seeing recognition of that name from Kidd and Killer as well. "I'm guessing you know him then?"

"Know him? He lives with us- him and his brother Ace.." Kidd muttered. He was getting annoyed just _thinking_ of the smug cowboy's face. Zoro laughed.

"Really? I had no clue! No wonder I haven't seen him for a while..him _or _Usopp.." Zoro mumbled, trailing off into silent thought. Kidd's level of annoyed-ness grew even more.

"That- ...scaredy-cat.. is part of your group too?" Kidd groaned.

"How do you guys know _him_? It seems like you know everyone!" Zoro said, dumbfounded. Kidd and Killer looked at each other, deciding to shorten the story.

"He and Luffy.. may or may not have called the cops on us a few days ago," Killer told Zoro. Zoro facepalmed.

"Usoppp.. I told Luffy that he was a nuisance!"

There was a short aggravating silence in the room in which Michael noticed that T. was still looking at him with a strange look on his face. Michael waved to him hesitantly, and T. smirked, waving back. Kidd and Killer watched after a while. T. remembered he hadn't introduced himself to the kid, and so he took Michael's hand in a handshake. Michael looked confused at first.

"I'm T."

Michael blinked up at him and then grinned. "That's a funny name! Like the letter 't'?"

T. felt strong deja vu right there and he laughed, nodding. "Yup. I'm an old friend of your.. your dads'."

"Oh. Okay!" Michael said happily, "then are you going to live with us too?"

"Maybe," T. told him, ruffling the boy's hair. Michael beamed.

"I think that'd be smart," Killer spoke up, catching T.'s attention, "after you recover here, we'll give you another make-over and then you can come and live with us til all this mess is finished- or whenever." T. looked at him longingly, desperate for that to come true. "By the way, how _are _you being cared for?"

Killer looked at Zoro. Zoro shook his head. "A person in my alliance has inherited his late father's gift of medicine and doctoring and has been nursing him."

The five in the room were quiet for a moment. Kidd wondered if maybe he killed the kid's dad. T. was grateful. Killer felt indebted to Zoro and Luffy, while Michael was just kind of there watching everyone think. T. looked back down at Michael.

"You're actin' weird," Kidd told him. T. ignored the comment and indirectly spoke to Killer.

"Zach, just look at him. Do you not see anything? Have you gone blind?" T. asked rudely. Michael looked to his dad. Killer sent him an unsure smile and remained silent. T. sighed. The sun was passed over by a cloud, cutting out the already shaded light to the room. The darkness soon dissappeared again, mentally signalling T. to speak.

T. spoke to Zoro, who was not involved with Killer's past- "Look at.. _Killer's _blue eye. See that? That striking color? Now look here-" T. turned Michael's head to Zoro- "..do you see it?"

Zoro looked where instructed and let the gears in his head turn. His eyes sparkled a little. "Yeah... yeah, I do."

Killer was confused.

"Zach, for God's sake, why else would you feel such a sudden attachment to this kid if he wasn't yours?" T. asked him. Killer pondered the word 'yours'.

"'Mine'..?"

"Dear lord, Zach, Maria had your kid and he's sitting right here!"

Michael looked between the two shocked faces of his fathers'. Killer's mouth fell open a little, thinking, remembering.. he saw the due date flash in his head. He saw the images of the floor where T. sat on his back and restricted him. He imagined Maria..

"Oh my God.."

Michael blinked up at Killer as he scooted closer and pulled him into his own lap. Killer rubbed Michael's back, trying not to tear up. The child was thoroughly flabbergasted, but denied himself to ask anything.

"Michael..?" Killer asked softly. Michael cocked his head, listening. "Do you remember Mommy's name?" Michael shook his head. "What color hair and eyes did Mommy have?"

"Brown.. and.. and blue," Michael concluded with a scrunched-up expression of thought. Killer closed his eyes, trying to control himself even further.

"When.. when's your birthday, Michael.."

"June 28..?"

Killer looked over Michael's head to T. and let a stray tear roll down his cheek onto Michael's head. T. smiled happily to his friend and nodded.

"Michael.. I love you!" Zach sobbed, hugging the small child to his chest. Michael grinned in return, unsure of why his dad was crying.

"I love you too, Daddy!"

Kidd felt a little disconnected- still happy, but unrelated and confused. Hadn't Michael said that his mom told of how Kidd took his dad away?

"But didn't your Mommy say I took your dad away, Michael?" Kidd spoke up gently. T. was impressed with his tone. Michael nodded into Zach's chest.

"From Maria's point of view, you did," T. told Kidd, scratching at the bandages on his chest. Kidd looked down at his hands again.

"Oh..."

"I guess you don't need me much anymore-" came a high pitched voice from the door. Zoro turned around, a little frightened to see his friend there. Everyone else had jumped as well, soon settling into a chorus sheepish laughter. Zoro's friend smirked.

"You know you really should keep that door locked out there," the friend reminded Zoro. Zoro waved the suggestion away with a smirk. "By the way, you guys can call me Chopper."

"Thanks for taking care of me," T. told him. Chopper nodded.

"No problem!"

"And while I'm thanking; thank you again Zoro for forgiving me and for _not_ plucking one of my eyes out," T. added, laughing. Zoro only shook his head with a smirk. Chopper leaned against the doorframe, brushing his brown hair off of his face.

"Hey Zoro, do you know when the next formal meeting is?" Chopper asked with a concerned look on his face. "We haven't had one in over a week.."

Zoro sighed, rubbing his face, "Well if _Luffy_ would at least contact me then I could give you an estimate, but.. who knows?"

Kidd stood up from the cold warehouse floor, catching everyone's attention. Killer sniffled a little and looked up at him longingly. Kidd looked down at him and smirked, looking back up to Chopper and Zoro.

"I'll go get him," Kidd offered. Zoro blinked, about to speak. "-that way we can meet this bullet-guy quicker."

"Bullet-guy.. does he mean Franky?" Chopper asked Zoro.

Zoro nodded while Kidd remembered the name..Franky. Kidd's mind was hurting and he felt a headache coming on. He figured maybe some fresh air would help him.. Zoro saw nothing wrong with this and let Kidd go after telling him to go and come back in different ways so that it wouldn't look too suspicious to anyone who might be watching. Kidd understood and turned to Killer.

Killer looked up at him with those eyes.. Kidd bit his lip and had to go and bend down beside him. He gave Killer and Michael a crushing hug, saying, "I don't love many things, but I love you guys so much.."

Killer sniffled again. "I love you too, Kidd.. Tell Ace that we'll spend the night here, and make sure you tell him that he at least needs to be at that building from 1 AM to 7 AM, alright?"

Kidd took in the information and nodded, getting up to leave.

"Love you, Kidd!" Michael chirped, hugging his leg. Kidd smiled, patting the kid's head lovingly.

"See you in a bit, Michael."

Then he was off into the world just before the sunset, stopping by the alley to pick up his coat on the way to his apartment- the rest went as planned.


End file.
